Livewire
by Matt Briddell
Summary: C27/28: The exciting conclusion. Read on to see who survives. S/O: Electra Barrows is transformed by Magneto into a mutant with tremendous and horrifying powers.
1. Chapter 1

X-Claimer: I do not own any of the characters normally associated with X- Men: Evolution.  
  
In a foggy mountain valley, an ancient castle stood, erected as if to serve as a solitary sentinel against some foreign invader. Lightning flashed through the sky, making its tall parapets gleam against the black sky. Rain poured down on its roof, the noise echoing throughout the castle's hallways. Up in the keep, two figures were engaged in a terse conversation.  
  
"Are you certain you wish to go through with this?" asked the shorter figure, a wizened old man.  
  
"We have no choice at this point. The threat we face is too great," said the second man, the taller of the two. His deep voice filled the room with a menacing echo.  
  
"You do know that this procedure is irreversible," said the first man.  
  
"I am aware of it, Mindbender," said the taller man.  
  
"Then you can understand, Magneto, why we must test it first. If it does not go exactly as planned, it could kill you, and there would be nothing to stop Apocalypse from destroying the world!" said Mindbender.  
  
Magneto furrowed his brow. When it came to dealing with the threat posed by Apocalypse, he was unwilling to wait for anything. But he recalled how his impatience had caused him to make a grave error back in England. He had been deceived into destroying the second key of Apocalypse's temple, not realizing that the giant spider was actually created to protect against the ancient mutant. He realized that he could not afford a similar mistake, and gave into reason.  
  
"Very well, Mindbender, we will wait. How do you recommend we test this?" he asked.  
  
"I have just the person in mind," said the older mutant, and held up an electronic display pad. It showed a picture of a young woman in her early 20's.  
  
"This will be our test subject," he said. "According to the information we've gathered on her, she does possess the X-gene. That should make her more receptive to the procedure,"  
  
"If she has the X-gene, why haven't we found out about her before? Or Xavier, for that matter?"  
  
"Her gene appears to be recessive. It is likely that she will never manifest any kind of mutant powers," replied Mindbender.  
  
"Very well. Make the arrangements to have her brought here immediately," said Magneto.  
  
"Of course," said Mindbender, and left the room.  
  
Magneto gazed out the window of the castle keep, staring directly into the heart of the thunderstorm. As it raged outside, he felt his anger grow inside of him. He imagined seeing Apocalypse's face against the storm, as if the storm was sending him a message that the world's most dangerous mutant would soon arrive, and there was nothing that could stop it.  
  
"We'll see about that," Magneto growled, clenching his fists. "When this procedure is successful, I will be the most powerful mutant the world has ever seen, and humanity will bow to me, not to you!"  
  
X  
  
On the other side of the world, the weather and the mood was much different as Electra Barrows walked across the campus of her college. She was a week away from graduating with her master's degree in electro-physics. She had spent the last several days nervously preparing for her finals, but now that they were over she was looking forward to unwinding with her friends. They had already made plans for a big party to celebrate the end of their college days. Now as she strolled through campus, she could feel a whole new world opening up to her.  
  
Inside an unmarked van, two men watched a monitor intently. They were observing Electra secretly. One of them, who was kneeling down to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, growled as he recognized the face on the screen.  
  
"Patience, mon ami," said the second man. His voice had a thick Cajun accent. "She'll come to us soon enough,"  
  
Electra decided to catch a cab into town to pick up a few things for the evening. After a 15 minute cab ride, she was walking through the streets of town. The van barely registered in her memory as she walked past it.  
  
A few moments later, the doors on the back of the van opened up and the two men emerged. The taller of the two stretched out to his full height of over 8 feet to relieve his cramped legs. They began to follow after her discreetly.  
  
Electra navigated through the throngs of people on the sidewalks, unaware of the two men that were trailing her. She made it through the congestion, and as she waited at a corner for the traffic light to change, she felt herself roughly grabbed from behind and pulled backwards. A massive hand gripped her face and prevented her from screaming for help as she was dragged into an alley.  
  
Electra struggled against her assailant but was unable to break free. She lashed out with her foot and felt it connect. She heard a groan and felt the arms gripping her loosen. She tried to run but a massive figure appeared, blocking the entrance to the alley. The man let out a bestial snarl, frightening Electra. She staggered backward and tripped, falling to the ground.  
  
She saw the man who she had just kicked standing over her. He had a scruffy face and very strange looking eyes. They were all black, with only the red pupils showing any kind of color. He leaned down close to her.  
  
"Please, don't kill me!" Electra begged, sobbing. "What do you want?"  
  
"Relax, mon cher," said the man. "We're not going to kill you. You're much more valuable to us alive,"  
  
The giant man was now at his side. "Our employer is very eager to meet you," he snarled.  
  
Electra tried desperately to scramble to her feet, but the first man had pulled out an aerosol can and sprayed its contents into her face. She was quickly overcome by the gas and passed out.  
  
"Pick her up and let's get out of here," said Gambit. Sabertooth ran his tongue over his pointed teeth and scooped up Electra's prone body, and they walked out of the alley.  
  
Inside the van, Gambit picked up a secure phone and made a call. Shortly, Magneto's helmeted visage appeared on the screen.  
  
"She's on her way," Gambit said.  
  
"Were you seen?" Magneto asked.  
  
"Not at all,"  
  
"Excellent," Magneto said, and the screen went black.  
  
Gambit went to the front of the van and started the engine as Sabertooth resumed his cramped position in the back of the van. He hoped traffic wouldn't be too bad on the way to the airport.  
  
X 


	2. Chapter 2

Gambit groaned and slumped down against the wheel as he stared out across the seemingly-endless traffic sprawled out across the freeway. They had been misfortunate and had wound up stuck in rush hour on the way to the airport, and Gambit was beginning to worry. Mindbender had impressed upon him the need for this mission to go perfectly, and one hitch in their plans, no matter how trivial, could have profound consequences. It had been nearly an hour since the abduction, which Gambit knew was plenty of time for something to go wrong.  
  
In the back of the van, Sabertooth's legs were beginning to cramp up. He sneered down at his unconscious captive and then called up to Gambit, "Hey, why don't you do one of your card tricks and clear us a lane, huh?"  
  
"Believe me, I'd love to," Gambit grumbled. "Except that would get us caught in two seconds, and then we'd be facing battery and kidnapping charges to go along with what Magneto would do to us,"  
  
Finally after fifteen minutes, traffic began to move again. Gambit spotted his exit and quickly cut across the freeway and drove the van down the ramp. He drove into the airport's parking garage and took the ramp all the way down to the basement. The floor was empty except for one vehicle.  
  
Gambit parked the van and got out. Sabertooth exited from the rear, carrying Electra's prone form in his arms. "Next time, why don't we walk?" he muttered.  
  
The rear door of the second car opened, and Mindbender stepped out. He took a look at the girl in Sabertooth's arms and grinned. "Well done," he said. "Now, you'd best get out of sight for a minute so she doesn't see you,"  
  
Sabertooth placed Electra in the back seat of the car, and he and Gambit ducked behind the van. Mindbender reached into Electra's purse and pulled out her wallet. He opened it and switched her driver's license and student card with altered duplicates, and then replaced the wallet in her purse. Next, he took a small vial out of his pocket, opened it, and waved it beneath Electra's nose. Electra gave a soft moan and slowly began to wake up.  
  
As she was waking up, Mindbender flexed his hand and used his mutant powers to imprint false memories in her brain. When she regained consciousness, the look on her face as she gazed at him was one of recognition.  
  
"Mmm, I'm sorry, grandpa, I must have dozed off. Are we at the airport yet?"  
  
Mindbender assumed a friendly, paternalistic air. "Yes, Electra dear. We just arrived," He reached in his pocket and pulled out a passport. "Now, here's your passport. You'll need this when we go through customs."  
  
She took the passport and slid it into her purse, and stepped out of the car. She began to follow Mindbender as he started to walk towards the elevator that would take them up to the international terminal, then paused.  
  
"Grandpa, where are our bags?" she asked.  
  
Mindbender hesitated in mid-stride. Hmm, so she wasn't a complete dolt. "I've already checked them in with the skycap, dear," he said quickly.  
  
"Oh. Ok," said Electra, and resumed walking, not giving the matter any more thought.  
  
Gambit watched the two enter the elevator and gave a sigh of relief as the doors closed. Mindbender's quick thinking had averted a potential disaster, and their role in this mission was now complete.  
  
"So now what happens?" asked Sabertooth.  
  
"Magneto will contact us again if he needs us. In the meantime, we're free to pursue whatever business we see fit," Gambit replied.  
  
Sabertooh sneered. He knew exactly what sort of business he would be taking care of.  
  
"I'll see you later, then," he said, and walked off, leaving Gambit alone with the two vehicles.  
  
"Hmm," he thought. "Maybe I should check in on the recruits, just to make sure they haven't managed to starve to death with Pietro running things," He climbed into the car and drove off, leaving the empty van by itself.  
  
X  
  
In an office building in New York, a woman poured over the contents of a file. She was an FBI agent assigned to the Bureau of Missing Persons, and she had been examining this particular file for the last 2 hours. She gave a sigh and leaned back in her chair, her mind taxed. The file was very minimal in its details, saying only that a female college student in California had been abducted by unknown captors. She knew that without some kind of solid evidence, the search would probably be very long and very unproductive.  
  
She looked up as there was a knock at the door.  
  
"Come in," she called. The door opened, and a young man in a dress shirt and khaki pants walked in, holding a videotape.  
  
"Jan, this just came in about your kidnap victim. You should take a look at it,"  
  
"Ok, Tim," she said, and took the tape from him and loaded it into a VCR. In a moment, the TV screen lit up with a camera image of a sidewalk focused on a city street.  
  
"This is security footage from a store near where the victim was last seen. Look at this," he pointed out.  
  
Jan watched as a young woman who looked very much like the picture in the file she had been studying walked past the camera and out of sight. A few moments later, two men walked past the camera's field of vision. A few seconds later, they reappeared in the camera, dragging the woman into an alley.  
  
"Rewind that," she said. Tim adjusted the controls and the tape began to move backwards.  
  
"There, stop it," she said. The image froze on the two men as they first entered the camera.  
  
Jan looked closely at the picture. The smaller of the two was fairly ordinary, albeit a bit scruffy. The other man, however, looked like a giant in comparison. He was huge, and wore a tattered trench coat. She zoomed the image in on his hands and saw the claws that formed at the end of his fingers. She refocused on his face and saw his mouth frozen in a half- snarl, fangs clearly visible. She stared at the picture in silence for a moment and then realized what she was looking at.  
  
"Tim, call Mr. Simons in here immediately," she said. "I think our captors are mutants,"  
  
X 


	3. Chapter 3

On the plane, Mindbender checked his watch. They had been airborne for two hours. So far, everything was going according to plan. The one drawback had been with Electra's new memories. Something he had implanted in her had made her very chatty, and she had not stopped talking about all the fun she was going to have once they got to Germany. Since he couldn't knock her out again or alter her memories further without giving himself away, he was stuck listening to her prattle on. Finally, he saw an opportunity to get away for a bit, and took it.  
  
"Excuse me, my dear, but I have to make a private call to let the people who are picking us up know where to meet us," he said. He got up from his seat and walked back to the lavatory. He entered, shut the door, and pulled a phone out of his pocket. He pressed a sequence of buttons, and shortly, the display screen on the phone lit up, indicating that a secure channel had been established. He pressed the send button and waited. A moment later, the screen was filled with Magneto's face.  
  
"I trust there have been no problems?" he said.  
  
"None at all," replied Mindbender. "We will be arriving in a few hours,"  
  
"Excellent. I will have Pyro and Colossus waiting when you arrive,"  
  
"I understand," Mindbender said, and the screen went blank. Mindbender took a moment to wash his hands, partly to buy himself a few extra seconds without having to listen to Electra's voice. When he returned to his seat, he was relieved to find that she had fallen asleep.  
  
X  
  
Gambit pulled his car up to a boarding house in Bayville. He cut off the engine, got out of the car, and walked up to the front door.  
  
I hope they haven't starved to death while Pietro's been in charge of things, he thought to himself, and opened the door.  
  
The house was in its usual sloppy condition. Empty pizza boxes and plates of half-eaten food lay on the rug, clothing was strewn about over the furniture, and the picture on the TV was blurred and fuzzy due to the poor reception. But the house itself was devoid of people, something that was most unusual.  
  
Gambit stroked his chin, trying to figure out where the Brotherhood could be. As he pondered, he heard a door open upstairs and saw Wanda emerge from her bedroom. She yawned as she walked down the staircase and saw Gambit "Hi," she said.  
  
"Hello, Wanda. Where's everybody else?"  
  
"Pietro went out for breakfast, but I don't know about the others. They went out camping over the weekend and haven't come back yet,"  
  
"And they didn't invite you along?" Gambit asked.  
  
"Would YOU want to spend 3 nights in a tent with Toad?" she replied.  
  
"I see your point," Gambit said thoughtfully.  
  
Wanda looked out the door over Gambit's shoulder and saw a small cloud of dust on the horizon. "Hey, I think I see Pietro. He should be back any second now,"  
  
Three seconds later, a blur raced past Gambit as Pietro ran back into the house. He stopped in the hall and looked nervously at Gambit.  
  
"Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" he said.  
  
"Relax, Pietro. Nobody's accusing you of anything. Yet, anyway," Gambit replied.  
  
"Look, if you're wondering why I haven't sent you any status reports for a while, there IS a perfectly good reason!" Pietro stammered.  
  
"Oh give it a rest, brother! No wonder the others left!" Wanda muttered, and started back upstairs.  
  
"Hold on a minute," Gambit said. "Is there something going on here I should know about?" he asked, eyeing Pietro suspiciously. Pietro shifted his feet squeamishly.  
  
"Now that you mention it, there is," said Wanda, walking back into the hall. "Pietro's been doing a horrible job leading us. We've been living like slaves while he sits on his butt all day. His training sessions have been pathetic. And he's a terrible motivator! The others don't even WANT to join Magneto any more! I still do, but there's some days when I wonder why I'm even wasting my time here,"  
  
Gambit's eyes narrowed as Pietro began sweating. "I see," he said.  
  
"Wait, I can explain!" Pietro cried desperately.  
  
"Stow it, kid, and listen carefully," Gambit growled. "Your father's planning something. I don't know exactly what, but it's serious. I just got back from kidnapping somebody, because he needs her for some kind of experiment,"  
  
Wanda gasped at this. "Why would my father want to kidnap anybody?" she asked.  
  
Gambit ignored her and continued. "Your father wanted me to tell you that he may need you soon. Not now, though," he said as Pietro dashed upstairs and returned in a split second with a packed suitcase. "You can expect me to return when the time is right. And for safety's sake, I think you should keep this to yourselves for now,"  
  
"Whatever my father needs, he can count on me!" Wanda said eagerly, her prior shock forgotten.  
  
Gambit grinned. He had to hand it to Magneto for having Mindbender brainwash Wanda, effectively turning one of their most dangerous enemies into a useful ally. "I'm very glad to hear you say that, my dear. At least somebody around here has some enthusiasm," he said, giving Pietro a sideways glance. Pietro scowled as Gambit walked out the door.  
  
"What do you suppose Father needs us for?" Wanda asked Pietro.  
  
"I don't know, sis, but you heard Gambit. This could be big," he said. "I just hope we can get out of here before the rest of those idiots get back. The last thing I need to hear is Lance, Toad and Freddie whining about how they'd rather just be like normal people,"  
  
Wanda snorted in disgust. No matter how much she disliked her companions, none of them deserved any of the crap that Pietro constantly gave them, not even Toad. She elbowed past him and walked into the kitchen to make breakfast.  
  
X 


	4. Chapter 4

On the other side of town, Kitty Pryde sat in the kitchen of the Xavier Institute, eating her own breakfast. She had gotten up early to avoid the morning rush that was so common at the Institute. She took a sip of her orange juice and savored the silence of the kitchen, knowing that it would soon be disrupted. Sure enough, the rest of the Institute's inhabitants quickly rushed into the kitchen, which came alive in a jumble of activity. Soon, all the mutants were sitting at the table, eating and talking loudly.  
  
Kitty glanced over at the one empty chair that Evan Daniels had formerly occupied. It seemed like forever since he had left and joined the Morlocks, even though it had only been about a month. They had not heard one word from him in all that time, and Kitty knew that Storm was as worried as ever about him. She sighed and sipped her juice again as Professor Xavier wheeled into the room, carrying the morning's paper.  
  
"What's in the news today, Professor?" Jean asked him as he wheeled up to the table.  
  
"Something interesting," he said and spread the paper out on an empty corner of the table. The headline said, "Mutants Suspects in College Student Kidnapping,"  
  
Jean and the others leaned in and took a look at the front page, which showed a grainy picture of two figures that appeared to be dragging a woman into an alley. The image was from a store security camera, and they could not make out the smaller of the kidnappers, but the size of the second one was unmistakable.  
  
"Sabertooth," Scott grumbled.  
  
"So it seems," said Xavier.  
  
"Why would Sabertooth be kidnapping somebody?" asked Rogue.  
  
"Hard to say, but this definitely bears further watching," said Xavier.  
  
"It says the FBI is investigating the case," Kurt pointed out.  
  
"Maybe we'll finally get to see what this new Mutant Activities Division actually does," Scott said.  
  
"That Simons guy, like, totally creeps me out," Kitty said. She shuddered at the thought of their own experience with the M.A.D. Walter Simons and his agents had come to the Institute to interview Xavier and the students a few months ago. It took a great deal of explaining to get the message across that Xavier was not running some kind of terrorist training camp, but the mutants weren't convinced that Simons and his agency didn't still consider them to be some kind of threat to public safety. It seemed like somebody had been watching over their shoulder ever since.  
  
"I just hope this doesn't make people in Congress want to try and pass a mutant registration act again," said Jean. The public outcry against mutants was still very fresh in all of their minds from the first time that they had been exposed to the world. Several senators had tried to get a mutant registration bill passed shortly afterwards. The bill had been defeated, but by an uncomfortably slim margin.  
  
"I understand your concern, Jean. Crimes like this could tip the balance of opinion in Congress against mutants. Hopefully Agent Simons will not jump to any rash conclusions," said Xavier.  
  
"I hope so too, Professor," said Jean.  
  
X  
  
Agent Walter Simons scowled as he looked at the enlarged photos of Gambit and Sabertooth sitting on his desk. Since he had been appointed as head of the FBI's newly-created Mutant Affairs Division 8 months ago, he had had mixed feelings as to what the purpose of his job actually was. He had plenty of information on one group of them living in Bayville, New York, under the care of Charles Xavier, as well as loose bits and pieces of data on the other rogue mutants living in that city, but he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do about them. So far, they hadn't committed any kind of crimes or significant disturbances to warrant their arrest. Even if they had done so, he didn't have the authority to really do much about it. He was essentially a governmental babysitter, the head of an office created with little forethought and less funding. He personally didn't see what all the fuss was about mutants, but his superiors had let him know in no uncertain terms that they viewed the mutants as a threat to society, and that they merited observation, and that it was his job to do it.  
  
"Paranoid bastards," he grumbled to himself, taking another look at the photos.  
  
"Excuse me, sir?" Jan asked, still standing at attention in front of his desk.  
  
Simons looked up. "Mm, nothing," He glanced back at the pictures, then glanced back at her. She was still standing as rigid as a statue.  
  
"You can relax, Jan,"  
  
Jan's shoulders dipped slightly in response.  
  
Simons picked up one of the photos. "Do you know anything about the identity of these two mutants?" he asked.  
  
Jan pointed at the picture. "We have no information on the shorter one, sir. The other one is well known to us, though. His name is Sabertooth, and he's been sighted several times in the Bayville area in the past 2 and a half years,"  
  
She handed him another picture. "From what we've been able to determine, Sabertooth has some kind of vendetta against this mutant, one of the residents of the Xavier Institute, named Wolverine. We can't determine the nature of this feud for certain, but it has been going on for several years. Sabertooth has spent much of this time in the service of a mutant named Magneto,"  
  
Simons played with the name Magneto in his mind, trying to make a connection. A sudden image jumped into his mind, a picture of a man in a red cape being crushed by a giant robot. "I thought he was killed back when Trask set that giant robot loose in New York?"  
  
"We've never been able to confirm his death, sir. If Magneto is dead, then Sabertooth and this other mutant may be engaged in some kind of freelance operation, or they might be working for somebody else,"  
  
"Or they could just be committing a common criminal act," Simons added. "But since these ARE mutants we're dealing with, it looks like we've got to do something about it. Can't have the folks upstairs getting even more worried about this 'mutant threat'," he said sarcastically.  
  
"With all due respect, sir, I think you should take these mutants more seriously. It's bad enough that we have people with all sorts of strange powers running loose. Now it seems like some of them are committing criminal acts. If you ask me, Congress should have passed that registration act months ago. Then we'd have a lot easier time keeping track of these people,"  
  
Here we go again, thought Simons. It wasn't the first time this argument had come up. "Jan, you know my thoughts on this matter," he said. "We can't go eavesdropping on every single person we think looks or acts a little differently. That would be violating people's civil liberties. Now, I know our attorney general may not give a damn about that any more, but I still do!" he finished, his voice getting excited.  
  
"Then I guess we'll simply have to agree to disagree," Jan said coldly.  
  
There was an awkward silence as Simons and Jan stared at each other. The tension was broken by the phone on Simons' desk ringing. He picked it up and listened as a voice on the other end told him about an unusual vehicle parked at the airport.  
  
When the speaker finished, Simons hung up and then turned to Jan. "Get your coat," he said. "We're going to La Guardia. Seems these mutants may have left a bit of a trail for us to follow,"  
  
X  
  
Electra and Mindbender walked off the plane and into the terminal of Berlin's Brandenburg International Airport. Electra was very glad to finally be in Germany and was excited at the prospect of seeing her uncle again. She smiled at the two men waiting by the limousine. One was tall and thickly built. The other man, whose red hair looked like it was on fire, looked like a twig in comparison.  
  
Mindbender introduced Electra to the two men and they got in the back of the car. The taller of the two men got into the driver's seat and soon they were on their way, cruising down the German autobahn.  
  
Electra looked up at the red-haired man in the passenger's seat. "Do you work for my uncle?" she asked.  
  
The man turned around and smiled. "Yes, I do" he said in a thick Australian accent.  
  
"What all do you do for him?"  
  
"You could say that I take care of things when the situation gets hot," he chuckled.  
  
The two of them settled into conversation as the car drove through the German countryside. She tried to ask the driver a question, but the man only said something in Russian and continued driving.  
  
"A bit touchy, isn't he?" Electra asked.  
  
"Sorry, dear. He really doesn't like people talking to him when he drives," Pyro responded. "Now, where were we?"  
  
After about an hour of driving, the car pulled up the front of a castle settled in the middle of a mountain valley. Electra got out of the limo and gazed in awe at the large gothic building.  
  
"This place is incredible!" she said excitedly as she walked up to the gate of the castle.  
  
Magneto had observed their arrival from the top of the castle. He was very relieved that they had arrived without incident. Now he was one step closer to his own evolution. He walked downstairs to greet his new mutant-to-be.  
  
Electra's face lit up as she saw the gate open and Magneto step through the entrance. "Uncle!" she cried ecstatically and rushed up to him, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace.  
  
Magneto grinned as he returned Electra's embrace. "I'm very glad to see you, Electra," he said, smiling.  
  
Electra beamed enthusiastically, and then her eyes went wide in shock as Mindbender jabbed a needle into her neck. There was a quick hiss of air, and Electra crumpled to the ground.  
  
"Take her inside and prepare her for the procedure," Magneto ordered. "If what I have seen is true, we have no time to waste,"  
  
Colossus picked up Electra and carried her inside the castle. Mindbender approached Magneto apprehensively.  
  
"What have you seen? Is it Mesmero?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Magneto said. "He is getting close to finding the final key. If we do not act quickly, he will unleash Apocalypse upon the world, and we will be powerless to stop him,"  
  
They turned and walked back into the castle. There was a loud hum, and the gate slammed shut.  
  
X 


	5. Chapter 5

Deep in the mountains of Tibet, a solitary figure made his way up a narrow, winding path. He struggled as the fierce winds blew in his face, picking up his cape and swirling it capriciously around his body. He clutched his hood tighter and forced his way onward. Soon, the winds died down and he arrived at the entrance to a small cave. He pushed the hood back, revealing a yellowed, tattooed face, and made his way inside.  
  
The inside of the cave was set up like a shrine to some mystic god. Tall statues were carved into the walls and two rows of torches stood as a pathway leading up to a massive door set into the far wall. The man walked up to the door and stared at the ornate inscriptions etched into it, and waited.  
  
A tiny sound, like a small gust of wind, began to fill up his ears. It slowly grew louder and louder, until it sounded like a roaring waterfall. The man flinched slightly but did not move. He had experienced this before.  
  
The noise continued to roar, and the resolved itself into a voice, loud and powerful. "Mesmero!" it echoed.  
  
"Master," Mesmero replied. "The guardian has been destroyed,"  
  
"Of course," said the voice. "You have done very well, convincing our most dangerous enemy to destroy it for us. How ironic that the mutant who poses the greatest threat to me has now aided in my return!"  
  
"Soon, you shall hold this earth in the palm of your hand, my master," Mesmero said.  
  
"Yes," said the voice. "But there is still uncertainty ahead of us. Already our enemy has renewed his plots. I see that he is planning to increase his own powers to match mine. If he succeeds he may be able to destroy the last key before we can acquire it. He must be stopped!"  
  
"How shall I proceed, master?" Mesmero asked.  
  
"It is too late to stop the first step of his plan. Soon he will have a new ally. We must counteract this. Go to Berlin. When you arrive, you will find a most unusual and most dangerous mutant. You will recognize the signs when you see them. If I am correct, our enemy will be most eager to protect his new creation. We can use this weakness against him,"  
  
"Of course, my master. I shall go at once!" said Mesmero.  
  
"One more thing. This new mutant holds the key to my release. Take care that no harm befalls her,"  
  
"Yes, master," said Mesmero. The voice receded, and Mesmero turned and left the cave, his purpose served.  
  
On the other side of the door, a massive figure was held suspended between dimensions. He had been in this state for a thousand years, and eagerly yearned for his release. The figure cackled, and the entire mountain shook. "Soon," he cried, "The whole world will know the name of Apocalypse!"  
  
X  
  
Storm clouds were gathering above Magneto's castle. From the roof, Magneto gazed up at the darkened sky. Tonight would be the night.  
  
He sensed Mindbender approaching him from behind, and he spoke, without turning. 'The storm will be here soon. Are we on schedule?"  
  
"Our preparations are nearly complete, Magneto," said Mindbender. "But there may be a slight, complication,"  
  
Mindbender saw Magneto whip around to face him, the air filling with a menacing hum as the mutant approached him. "What sort of complication?" asked Magneto.  
  
Mindbender could feel the roof beginning to shake with Magneto's anger. "It is nothing serious, Magneto. Her X-gene may not be as recessive as we initially believed. It seems that she has partially broken through the memories I implanted in her mind,"  
  
"What has she remembered so far?"  
  
"Very little. But we should begin the procedure as soon as possible. If she recovers her memory, she will be very difficult to deal with,"  
  
Magneto floated off the ground and hovered above Mindbender. "See to it that we are ready to proceed before she has recovered," he growled, and floated away through the entrance to the keep. There was a loud hum and the door slammed shut with a heavy thud, leaving Mindbender alone on the roof.  
  
X  
  
Inside her small cell, Electra was trying to sort out all of the memories jumbled in her head. On one hand, she had a great number of memories about her grandfather and her wealthy uncle who lived in Germany. But there was also a niggling feeling in the back of her head, insisting that her grandfather had been dead for years and that she didn't have any uncles living anywhere in Europe.  
  
As she struggled to make sense of things, the door to her cell opened and Colossus walked in. "Come with me," he ordered in a thick Russian accent.  
  
Electra hesitated, trying to decide if she should obey the mutant. Somehow, he didn't seem like the type who said please. She stood up and slowly followed him out the door.  
  
"Where are we going?" she asked him nervously.  
  
"Your uncle wants to see you," he said gruffly, and led her into a large open chamber.  
  
Electra looked around at the room. Several large machines were set up around a tilted table in the center of the room. A massive apparatus hung above the table, the top part of it extending through a small hole in the roof. From its base dangled numerous wires and electrodes.  
  
Electra shuddered at seeing the machine. A voice in her mind told her that there was something very wrong about this.  
  
She next took in the two men standing in the room, the men who the memories in her head were telling her were her uncle and her grandfather. The taller man walked towards her.  
  
"Hello, Electra," Magneto said. "I'm glad you could join us before dinner,"  
  
"Of course," said Electra hesitantly. She took another look at all the equipment in the room. "What does all this do?"  
  
"I'm glad you asked," said Magneto. "I've been conducting some very interesting experiments in bioelectric research. Specifically, I've been studying the effect the Earth's electromagnetic currents have on people's biorhythms,"  
  
Something lit up in Electra's mind as she recalled something from one of her physics classes. Her professors had told her that a person's biorhythms were completely unaffected by electromagnetic energy. So why would her uncle be spending time researching such a theory?  
  
She listened to Magneto talk a bit more about his work, trying to put the pieces together. As she did, one of the machines emitted a puff of steam. Electra jumped a bit at the hiss and then gazed at the steam. Something about that cloud looked very familiar to her, as if she had encountered something similar recently.  
  
Looking back at Magneto, she saw him holding a large vial in his hand. Inside the glass cylinder was a blue liquid that was growing brightly. "What is that?" she asked.  
  
"This is a special serum I've developed. It alters a person's bloodstream so that they will be more attractive to electrical energy. If my theories are correct, this serum could help boost people's stamina by astounding levels!" he said. "Would you like to see exactly what it does?" he asked, taking a step towards her.  
  
Electra stepped backwards. "I'm not really sure about this, uncle," she said. "Everything I studied in college told me that what you're researching is impossible,"  
  
Her eyes shifted around the room again, settling on several thin poles hanging off the central machine. They were narrow and their ends tapered to sharp points. She eyed them suspiciously, the image triggering another memory. Needles, she thought.  
  
She continued to back up, and then felt Mindbender grab her wrist. "What's the matter, Electra, dear? Don't you want to see your uncle's research?" he asked, applying more pressure. As he did, one of his sharp fingernails punctured the skin on her wrist.  
  
Electra felt the slight stab as Mindbender's nail cut her wrist. She happened to be looking directly at the needle-like poles on the machine. As she felt the sting, her mind suddenly made the connection it had been desperately searching for, and she felt a mental dam burst as the repressed memories of the last few days came rushing back into her head.  
  
"No!" she screamed, and pulled her arm away from Mindbender. Instinctively she ran for the door. Magneto waved his arm, and the door crashed shut with a loud electric hum. Electra turned in search of another way out, but found herself grabbed by Colossus, lifted off her feet and forcefully carried over to the table.  
  
"Let me go!" she protested, but to no avail. The mutant set her down on the table. With another wave of Magneto's hand, Electra found herself bound to the table by thick metal restraints.  
  
Colossus walked up to her holding a pair of sharp scissors. He deftly sliced through her clothing, leaving her naked on the table. With the restraints in place, Electra was unable to move and had to suffer the indignity of being helplessly stripped bare. Her screams of protests continued to be ignored.  
  
Next, Colossus attached several of the electrodes hanging off of the machine to various places on her body. When he was done, no fewer than 15 electrodes were attached to Electra's arms, legs, stomach, chest, and face.  
  
"Who are you people?! What are you doing?!" she screamed.  
  
Magneto approached the table and leaned over. "I'm sorry it has to be this way for you, but I'm afraid I have no other choice. Mindbender, begin the procedure!" he called.  
  
Mindbender took the cylinder that Magneto had been holding and loaded it into a large tube attached to the central machine. A large needle on the machine twisted itself around until it was lined up directly with Electra's neck. It shot forward and pierced the skin, injecting its contents directly into her carotid artery.  
  
Electra winced as she felt the needle enter her neck, and suddenly felt a wave of coldness shoot through her entire body as the serum raced through her bloodstream. She began to convulse as her body temperature dropped 15 degrees in a matter of seconds. She could see the veins on her arms beginning to turn blue from the serum running through them.  
  
"P-p-please, st-stop this!" she begged, stammering as her teeth began to chatter. She was beginning to lose the feeling in her hands and feet.  
  
Magneto ignored her and turned to Mindbender. "The storm is here. Open the roof!" he ordered.  
  
Electra looked up as the hole in the roof expanded to reveal sinister- looking storm clouds. She felt a few drops of rain pour down onto her body. Oh my God!, she thought. He's going to electrocute me! She began to struggle as best she could against her restraints, but was unable to break free.  
  
Colossus stood at one of the consoles, manipulating the equipment. The great machine began to hum and throb as it came to life. He looked up at Magneto. "Power levels at 75 percent and rising. We will be able to attract a lightning bolt in 30 seconds," he said.  
  
Magneto nodded, his gaze locked intently on Electra.  
  
Electra looked up again as a bolt of lightning shot through the sky, narrowly missing the apparatus on top of the machine. She uttered a silent prayer that death would come quickly for her, and closed her eyes as the machine's hum grew louder.  
  
Colossus looked up again. "We have full power!" he shouted.  
  
"Activate!" cried Magneto.  
  
Colossus threw a switch, and the machine lit up with a surge of power. Overhead, several lightning bolts struck the top of the machine, charging up a large capacitor.  
  
Mindbender stood at another console, monitoring the capacitor charge. "50 percent, 60, 65," he counted off.  
  
Electra could feel her hair beginning to lift slightly as the static charge built up. She braced herself against what she knew was coming as more lightning struck the top of the machine.  
  
"92 percent, 96, 100 percent charge!" Mindbender called out.  
  
Electra knew she had just seconds left to live. She looked directly at Magneto, her eyes making one last desperate appeal.  
  
Magneto caught the girl's frantic gaze and felt a slight pang of his emotion. There is no other choice, he told himself. "Do it!" he said remorselessly.  
  
Mindbender activated the final sequence on the machine. There was a loud rush of energy as the machine directed all of its stored up current down the electrodes and into Electra's body. A second later, the noise was drowned out by Electra's blood-curdling shrieks of agony.  
  
X  
  
Electra screamed in horrible pain as she felt the energy from the machine course through her body. She shook her head against the restraints as her body was wracked with spasms. Somehow, she managed to get a clear view of her arm for a few moments, and she saw that it was beginning to glow with an eerie blue tinge. She saw that the rest of her body had taken on a similar glow. The glow grew brighter and she began to feel herself growing light-headed. The glow grew to a blinding glare, and finally, she mercifully passed out.  
  
X  
  
"Discharge complete," Mindbender called as the machine began to shut down. "Vital signs very low but still stable. She has survived,"  
  
"Magnificent!" Magneto said, in awe of the glowing blue form lying unconscious on the table. He turned to Mindbender. "Contact Gambit in America. Tell him to bring Wanda and Pietro here immediately. It is time for them to meet their new sister," he said.  
  
X  
  
On the other side of the world, Professor Xavier sat up like a rocket, awakened by the psychic screams of a soul in great torment. He gazed around the dark room, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. He flipped on the light and began to concentrate, trying to find where the mental burst had come from. His forehead narrowed as he strained his mind in concentration, but he was unable to pick up anything else. He sat in worried silence for a moment, then turned the light back off and settled back down on the bed, and soon drifted off into an uneasy sleep.  
  
X 


	6. Chapter 6

Electra slowly felt herself regaining consciousness. She had awoken from a horrible dream, where she had been caught out in a storm and struck by lightning. She felt pain course throughout her entire body as she slowly regained her sensations. She tried to sit up but felt something pushing against her chest. She struggled to open her eyes, feeling as if they were tied down. Finally her vision returned and she gasped in shock at what she saw.  
  
She saw an image in front of her in a standing full-length mirror. But what she saw could not possibly be her. Could not possibly be human.  
  
The mirror showed a figure secured to a bed that had a roughly human shape, but from there any human resemblance ceased. The figure had only the slightest hint of facial features, and it was glowing iridescent blue. The familiar curves normally present in a human female were barely visible. Electra gazed at the figure and slowly realized that she was looking at herself.  
  
Electra opened her mouth to scream, but the only sound that came out was a strange electric whine, like the sound of feedback from a microphone. What the hell's happened to me, she thought to herself.  
  
X  
  
Magneto watched Electra regain consciousness and winced as she screamed. He waved his hand and the restraints loosened themselves and the table tilted backwards. He walked up to her prone form.  
  
"Hello, my Livewire. How do you feel?" he asked her.  
  
Electra opened her mouth again and strained to bring clarity to her voice, "Wh.Whh.What ..have you done to me? Why are you calling me that" Her voice was raspy and had an electric quality, and sounded like she was speaking into a loudspeaker.  
  
"You have been reborn, Electra, and therefore I am giving you your new name," said Magneto. "I have given you a gift beyond all gifts. You are one of us, a mutant!"  
  
"W.Why have you done this?"  
  
"To awaken your true potential! You can be so much more now, do so much more!"  
  
Electra slowly sat up and ran a hand across her chest. Her body felt alien to her touch. She could feel no skin at all on her chest. She placed a hand where her breasts should have been and felt only a slight protrusion from her chest. Pressing harder, she recoiled as she felt her hand actually pass into her own body.  
  
"What's happened to my body!" she asked angrily.  
  
"Your body is no more," explained Magneto. "My procedure has destroyed it and left you with a form of pure energy. I know you are very angry and confused right now, but I assure you, things will be better for you this way,"  
  
"How the hell could they possibly be better for me?" Electra shouted, her electric voice filling up the entire room. "I'm not even human any more! How can I possibly live like this?" She anger gave her a surge of strength and she leapt off the table, ignoring the residual pain.  
  
Magneto took a step backwards. "This procedure has given you incredible new powers to go along with your new body," he said. "You are now a being of pure energy. You can control and harness electricity in ways that men like Einstein and Tesla never even imagined! Think of what you can do with these abilities! I can teach you to harness them, if you'll let me,"  
  
The words "pure energy" sent Electra over the edge. She collapsed to her knees and wailed in fury as Magneto's words ripped the last shreds of her humanity away from her.  
  
Magneto gestured to Colossus, who brought a wide cylindrical machine forward and set it on the ground near Electra.  
  
Magneto spoke to her again. "I don't want to rush you, I know you need time to reflect on this. Take this time to rest and recover your strength. When you're ready, I'll teach you what you need to know,"  
  
Colossus activated the machine. It lit up with a hum, and Electra felt herself being pulled towards it as the capacitor sucked her inside of it. It shook as it absorbed her and then went silent, leaving nothing where the mutant had just been.  
  
X  
  
At the Institute, Xavier wheeled towards the kitchen, his disturbing dream still hanging on his mind. As he made his way through the hall, he saw Jean Gray walk out of the bathroom.  
  
"Good morning, Jean," he greeted her.  
  
"Morning, Professor," she said, then noticed the slight look of concern on his face.  
  
"Professor, is everything all right?"  
  
"I'm nor sure, Jean. Did you have any kind of strange dreams or visions last night?"  
  
Jean thought for a moment, then said, "No, Professor, nothing out of the ordinary. Did you see something last night?"  
  
"I don't know," Xavier said nervously. "I sensed something disturbing last night, as if somebody were crying out in great agony. I couldn't get anything more,"  
  
Jean looked worried. Usually when the Professor sensed trouble, he was right about it. "Maybe we should check Cerebro out after breakfast to see if it's detected any new mutant signatures" she said.  
  
"Cerebro would have alerted us by now if it had detected anything," said Xavier. "We'll have to wait until,"  
  
"Until you see something else," Jean said.  
  
"Exactly," said Xavier, and they both continued on to the kitchen.  
  
X  
  
On the outskirts of Bayville, three tents were set up around a small campfire. Inside one of them, Lance Alvers sat up, rubbed the sun out of his eyes, and yawned. It was good to get out of the boarding house and away from Pietro for a change, even if it did mean sleeping on hard ground.  
  
He opened the flap of his tent and walked outside to find Fred trying to start a fire for breakfast. The large mutant was rubbing two small trees together, trying to get some sparks.  
  
"Geez, Freddy, how long have you been trying to get a fire going?" asked Lance.  
  
"Um, about an hour," said Fred, shrugging his shoulders.  
  
"And is there any chance we'll be having breakfast before it gets dark today?"  
  
"Hey, give 'im a break, Lance," said Toad. "You're starting to sound like Pietro. Besides, there's plenty of food around, if you know where to look,"  
  
Toad lifted up a rock from the ground and saw a number of bugs crawling around underneath it. "Jackpot!" he said, and scooped them up with his tongue in one swoop.  
  
"Ugh," groaned Lance, turning green. "I think I just lost my appetite,"  
  
After a few more minutes, Fred succeeded in starting a fire, and soon the three members of the Brotherhood were eating a hearty breakfast of eggs, pancakes and bacon.  
  
"Ya gotta admit," said Lance. "This sure beats sitting around having Pietro yell at us all the time," he said.  
  
"I'll say," said Fred, chewing on a piece of bacon. "If we were at home, we'd be cooking HIM breakfast and licking up the crumbs,"  
  
"Too bad Wanda didn't want to come along," said Toad. "She woulda had a good time, ya know? Sittin' around the fire, sleeping out under the stars, all that romantic stuff,"  
  
"Give it a rest, Toad," said Lance. "She's never gonna fall for you, not when she has more fun blowing you up,"  
  
"Hey, you've never seen how attractive I can be," Toad said. "I just have to try a little harder, that's all!"  
  
Lance chortled. Toad was nothing if not persistent at his efforts to get Wanda to like him.  
  
The mutants finished their breakfast and began to break camp. After a while they were packed and headed back to town in Lance's jeep.  
  
X  
  
As the three mutants drove up to the boarding house, they saw a car in the driveway.  
  
"Wonder who could be visiting the house?" asked Toad as they got out of the jeep.  
  
His question was answered a second later when Gambit walked out. Wanda and Pietro followed right behind him, each carrying a pair of suitcases.  
  
"Sweetums! We're back!" said Toad as he sidled up beside Wanda. "Did you miss us?"  
  
Wanda wrinkled her nose in disgust and shoved Toad out of her way, ignoring his cry as she walked over to the car.  
  
"Hey, where are you guys going?" Lance asked. Gambit ignored Lance and opened the trunk. "Hello, somebody wanna tell me what's going on around here?"  
  
Pietro walked up to him. "We're leaving," he said.  
  
"Hey, cool! Another trip!" said Fred. "Good thing we're already packed,"  
  
"No, Fred, I mean WE'RE leaving," said Pietro. "Me and Wanda. My father called Gambit this morning and told him to pick us up. He said he wants us to meet the newest member of the team,"  
  
"And what about us?" asked Lance. "I thought we were all on the same team here,"  
  
"Let's just say that the team's been restructured a bit," said Gambit. "The stakes have gotten much bigger and we can't afford to take any risks,"  
  
"So? That doesn't mean we can't still help out," said Toad.  
  
"Sorry, Toad," said Pietro. "Right now my father needs people he can rely on not to disappoint him, and you guys don't quite measure up,"  
  
"What'dya mean 'don't measure up?" asked Lance. "Like you've given us anything to measure up to. You've been worthless as a leader!" He turned to Gambit. "And I guess you're just gonna listen to whatever he says just because he's your boss' son!"  
  
"Hey kid, you had your chance, and you blew it. What else can I say?" said Gambit unapologetically.  
  
"Fine!" said Lance. "I'll be glad once you're gone! Screw you and your father, Pietro!"  
  
Pietro snarled and got right in Lance's face. "Don't you EVER say something like that about my father, Lance Alvers!" he hissed.  
  
"Here's what I think of your father, Pietro!" snarled Lance, and drew his face to strike the mutant. Before he could swing, he felt Gambit grab his arm. "Give it a rest, kid. You wanted to be rid of Pietro, right? Now you're getting rid of your wish,"  
  
"But what are we supposed to do?" asked Fred.  
  
Gambit shrugged his shoulders. "You're all quite resourceful, I'm sure you'll manage to come up with something. And who knows, you might just fit in at Xavier's school after all," he said and got in the car. Pietro and Wanda followed suit.  
  
Toad ran up to the side of the car. "Wanda! Wait!" he said desperately, but the car sped off. "Don't forget to write!" he called after it.  
  
"Great," he sniffed. "There goes the woman of my dreams. And I didn't even get to say goodbye,"  
  
Lance clenched his fist and the ground trembled. "Good riddance to 'em!" he said.  
  
"Where do you suppose they're headed?" asked Fred.  
  
"Who cares? I just hope they don't come back," said Lance, and stormed inside the house.  
  
"I think they were headed for the airport," said Toad. "Wanna follow 'em?"  
  
"I dunno. Lance is already pretty pissed off. He'd get even madder if we took his jeep. Besides, I don't know how to drive that thing. I think Lance is right. Just let them go," Fred said, and walked into the house, carrying the camping equipment with him.  
  
Toad stood alone in the driveway by himself. He looked nervously at the jeep, trying to decide if what he was planning was really worth it. Finally he decided.  
  
"I'm not gonna let her leave without saying goodbye first!" he said and hopped into the driver's seat of Lance's jeep. The keys were still in the ignition, and he started up the jeep and drove off after Gambit, hoping he didn't get pulled over along the way.  
  
X  
  
At the airport, Agent Simons stared at the solitary van parked in the lower level of the airport's parking garage. The doors on the back had been torn off, and there were a number of dents in the sides of the van, but they were unusual in that they appeared to have been made from the inside. He didn't need to look at the picture of Sabertooth he was holding to know that the oversized mutant had recently been an occupant of this vehicle.  
  
Jan walked up beside him. "Sir, I just talked with the man who was working in the parking booth 2 days ago. He says he saw this van drive in here and head to the bottom level, and that it's been here untouched ever since,"  
  
"I don't think anybody's going to be using this vehicle for a while," said Simons. "Did you find out anything else?"  
  
"He gave me this," she said, and handed him a tape. "It's a copy of the garage's surveillance video from that day,"  
  
Simons took the tape and walked back to his own vehicle, a minivan. He put the tape inside the van's VCR and began watching it. He saw the van pull through the gate and head down to the basement. It parked beside a black sedan, and a moment later the van's driver got out. Simons saw Sabertooth emerge from the back after kicking the doors open, carrying a woman in his arms. They walked over to the car, where another man, an older one, climbed out.  
  
They appeared to engage in conversation for a moment, and then the man pulled out some kind of needle and stuck it in the woman's arms. As he did so, Simons could see him waving one hand in front of the woman's face. When she came too, she seemed to recognize him. They said a few words and then the older man and the woman walked off towards the concourse elevator. Simons saw the shorter of the remaining men get in the car and drive it off, and then the tape stopped.  
  
"Did we get a good view of that older guy?" he asked.  
  
"Not really, sir," said Jan. "It would take hours for a computer to extrapolate a face from that footage. But I think it's safe to say he's a mutant and he can control people's minds. You saw how friendly she was to him when she woke up,"  
  
"I think you're right about that," said Simons. "But if we don't have a clear picture of him it could take forever to figure out he is,"  
  
"Well sir, we do know one thing," said Jan. "Our kidnappers were here and now our victim's gotten on a plane somewhere. We should check around inside and see what we can find,"  
  
X  
  
A couple hours later, Simons and Jan walked back to their van. They had talked with numerous individuals in the airport who said they had seen the woman and the older man at some point in the day. After talking with security, they had managed to get both a description of the older mutant as well as an image from their cameras.  
  
Jan ran a check on the mutant on their records, as Simons drove the van back to their office. "This mutant isn't showing up anywhere in our records," she said.  
  
"That's probably because our records mostly consist of what people have told us," said Simons. "It would be nice if those government clowns would actually give us the budget we need to get a good profiling system on these mutants,"  
  
"Sir, there is somebody who does have a very extensive set of mutant records at his disposal," said Jan.  
  
"You mean Professor Xavier, of course," said Simons. "You recall that I asked him to share his records with us, and he wasn't exactly forthcoming,"  
  
"I remember, sir," said Jan. "He said that his "students'" parents had trusted him to keep their children's records confidential, and he wasn't about to betray that trust,"  
  
"I suppose we might be able to convince him to help us out with this," said Simons. "Since it involves a crime like this. Of course, I'm sure my boss won't like it when he hears I'm asking mutants for help,"  
  
"We could just subpoena his records, sir," said Jan. "He'd respect a court order, even if he doesn't respect us,"  
  
"You may be right," said Simons, starting to doubt some of his earlier beliefs that mutants were as harmless as he had first thought them to be.  
  
X 


	7. Chapter 7

Toad sat hunched behind the wheel of Lance's jeep, wishing he actually knew how to drive a car. He had stalled the vehicle three times already and was in danger of losing Gambit in traffic.  
  
"Lousy piece of junk!" shouted Toad and pounded his fist on the dashboard. "How does Lance manage to keep this thing running?"  
  
He pulled the clutch and hit the gas, and the jeep shot forward. Toad screamed as he was slammed back against the driver's seat. He swerved as he nearly hit a tree on the side of the road, careened across the divider for a moment, and finally got the Jeep under control. "Man, I am never getting a driver's license after this! It ain't worth it!"  
  
As Toad followed Gambit to the airport, he could see the sky starting to fill up with dark storm clouds. "Oh great," he muttered as the first few drops started to fall. "Lance had to get a car without a roof," He grumbled and drove a bit faster, hoping to find cover before the storm got worse.  
  
Toad saw Gambit pull into the parking garage of the airport. He decided to be discreet and took the next exit. He circled around the back of the airport and saw Gambit's car drive out onto the tarmac where a small plane was waiting. Toad parked the jeep behind a small hill and got out to observe the mutants.  
  
Gambit glanced angrily at the darkening skies above. He scowled as the rain began to fall on his head. If this storm got worse, they would be delayed in taking off. Sure enough, a bolt of lightning confirmed his fears.  
  
"Great," he grumbled, and opened the passenger door where Pietro and Wanda were sitting. "We're going to have to wait a while for the storm to clear. You might as well stay here for now and keep dry,"  
  
Pietro scowled at the delay, but not even he could change the mind of Mother Nature.  
  
Up on the hill, Toad sat shivering as he pondered as to where Gambit and the others could be going. Pietro had said that Magneto had summoned them for something very important, that they were going to meet a new mutant who was supposed to be very important to their cause.  
  
"Man, I'd sure like to know what's going on down there," Toad said. Then, he got an idea. "I just hope he'll help me out again," he said, and hopped back in the car and drove off, heading back into Bayville.  
  
X  
  
So far, the day at the Institute had been quiet. Xavier had had no more visions, and Cerebro's checks had turned up nothing out of the ordinary. Jean was relieved that nothing was wrong, but Xavier still remained slightly edgy. He sat in the den and tried to shake off the visions as Logan sat by the fire.  
  
"I tell ya, Chuck, things have been pretty quiet since that trip to England," he said. "I'd have figured that Mesmero would have gone right after that last key after the fight we had with that giant spider,"  
  
"You can be sure wherever he is, he is not sitting idly by," said Xavier. "He'll turn up again. Hopefully just not too soon,"  
  
"Too bad ol' chrome-dome had to go zap that thing," said Logan, watching the rain roll down the windows of the den. "The beating that thing gave out, I don't think anybody would want to stick around for too long,"  
  
"Indeed. Magneto was too blinded by what he thought was right to understand the creature's true nature. Let us hope he does not become involved in the search for this last key. If he does, his fear may aaggghhh!!!" he suddenly cried out as a wave of mental pain seared through his head.  
  
Logan looked up at Xavier and saw him holding the sides of his head in pain.  
  
"What is it, Charles? You getting' something?"  
  
Xavier looked up at Logan, his eyes aghast. "Something terrible has happened," he said softly. "I just saw somebody. transformed somehow!"  
  
"Do you think this is related to what you saw last night?" asked Logan.  
  
"It might be. I didn't get a clear enough vision in my dream last night, but this was much stronger. I think the two events are related somehow. I have to go check Cerebro to confirm this. I'll let you know as soon as I have something,"  
  
Xavier turned his wheelchair around and headed off towards the elevator. He fired off a mental message to Jean to come down to Cerebro as soon as she could. Logan got a glimpse of Xavier's face right before the elevator doors closed. The man looked like he had just seen a ghost. Logan growled and then got up to collect the other X-Men. If the situation was anywhere near as bad as Xavier seemed to think it was, they would all need to be ready to act.  
  
X  
  
Electra rested inside of the capacitor. She was totally bereft of substance and body; she existed as pure energy and consciousness. She tried to exert some kind of force on the metal walls containing her but could not make them budge. She resigned herself to contemplating her new existence.  
  
I'm not human, she thought. I'm just. energy. being. How???  
  
She tried to grasp one of the remaining human thoughts in her mind to figure out how such a transformation could be possible. She recalled the endless hours she had spent in her physics lectures and the countless pages of her textbooks, but could come up with no kind of explanation for what she now was, or how she had become this way.  
  
As she sat in the capacitor, another kind of thought entered her consciousness. She felt a hunger throughout her whole form.  
  
But how can I eat, she wondered. No, her form told her. It was not food that she needed. It was something else. Something stronger.  
  
Electra tried to make sense of this urge, and then felt something pulling at her. She felt herself being drawn out of the capacitor as Magneto released the machine's containment field, and a second later she was standing back in the real world.  
  
"Hello, Electra," said Magneto from inside a booth. "It is time to begin your training,"  
  
He threw a few switches and the room lit up. Electra saw that she was in a large, circular room. She assumed she was still in Magneto's castle. The walls were reflective, and Electra saw her reflection all around the room. She noticed that her glowing aura was a bit dimmer than it had been the last time she had seen herself. She also saw that she was wearing some kind of collar around her neck.  
  
"First, let me tell you about your powers. As an energy being, you can possess and activate certain kinds of machinery. For now, I don't expect you'll have much luck controlling anything bigger than, say, an electric can opener, but when your powers mature, you should be able to control an airplane or a tank with just a thought,"  
  
"I feel hungry," she said, feeling herself growing weak. Her aura had now grown very dim.  
  
"Ah, of course," said Magneto. "That is another aspect of your transformation I was about to mention. As an energy being, your body, such as it is, must absorb power from time to time to maintain its cohesion. If you do not, you will dissipate into nothingness. In essence, you will die,"  
  
"Please, help me!" she begged him.  
  
"All in good time. I assure you you are in no danger of dying just yet. Why don't we try a few tests and see how you can control your powers," said Magneto. He pulled a lever inside the booth and a panel in the floor of the chamber opened up. A small table with a few simple appliances pushed itself up from the floor.  
  
"Electra, I want you to try and activate that blender. Focus on using your own energy to turn it on. I promise you it will be worth your while,"  
  
"I don't want to do this! I don't want any kind of powers!" she protested.  
  
"Electra my dear, I'm afraid you really don't have any choice in this matter," said Magneto sternly. "This procedure is irreversible, so you should make the best of what I'm offering. But I can see you need further persuasion,"  
  
Magneto picked up a small control device and activated it. The collar around Electra's neck lit up, and Electra screamed in pain.  
  
"This collar transmits energy throughout your body that is of a different wavelength than the energy you have within you. The conflicting wavelengths will cancel each other out and cause your energy to drain away. As I'm sure you've noticed, it is a very painful experience,"  
  
"Please, make it stop!!" Electra begged as her vision began to cloud up. She could see herself fading away into nothingness as her aura began to disappear.  
  
"Of course," said Magneto. "I don't want to cause you any undue pain," He deactivated the collar. On the floor, Electra's aura began to brighten again.  
  
"Are you ready to continue your training now?" Magneto asked subtly, his voice dripping with menace.  
  
"Yes," Electra said softly, her vision coming back.  
  
"Good. Now, try and turn on one of those appliances," said Magneto.  
  
Electra looked at the table, which had a small blender and a cordless drill sitting on it. She focused her attention on the blender and tried to make it turn on. Nothing happened for several moments.  
  
"I don't understand what I'm supposed to do," she said.  
  
"You have a great amount of energy inside of you. Move it from you into the blender," said Magneto.  
  
Electra was very confused by this, but she didn't say anything out of fear that Magneto might turn on the collar again. She looked at the blender again, and as she did so, she became more aware of the energy moving around inside of her.  
  
An image from her physics lectures popped into her head. In her mind, she saw a battery and a light bulb with cables attached to them. One of the cables was unattached to the light bulb, leaving the power unable to flow.  
  
Electra began to realize what she needed to do in order to activate the blender. "I just complete the circuit," she said to herself.  
  
She extended her arm towards the blender and focused on moving the energy inside her down her arm, out of her body and into the appliance. She saw the thin glowing rods that used to be her fingers get brighter. For a second, nothing happened, and then a narrow bolt of electricity shot out of where her fingertips had been and struck the blender. The blender switched on with a loud whirring sound.  
  
"Excellent!" shouted Magneto. "Try the other one!"  
  
Electra pointed her arm at the drill, and with another bolt of electricity, there were two whirring appliances on the table. She then raised both of her arms. Electricity shot out of both hands, and the appliances switched off.  
  
"Outstanding!" said Magneto, pushing the lever back up and sending the appliance table back where it had come from. "How did it feel?"  
  
"I don't know," Electra said. "Strange, and yet, kind of good,"  
  
"I'm glad you found it pleasurable," said Magneto. "After a while, I'm sure you'll come to appreciate all that you are and all that you can do. Now, I have something special for you. Look over there,"  
  
Electra looked where Magneto was pointing to see a panel on the side of the wall open to reveal a mess of wires and circuitry. She felt the hunger pangs she had felt earlier return, stronger than ever. She subconsciously began to walk towards the wires, instinctively drawn to them.  
  
"Yes, Electra, good," said Magneto. "This is how you can get more energy for yourself. It's very simple. All you have to do is merge yourself with that power box and draw the energy out of it and into you. Go ahead, try it,"  
  
Electra had already reached the box by this time. Unhesitating, she thrust her hand into the circuitry and felt a surge of power enter her body. She gasped as she began absorbing the energy and felt herself growing stronger. In a strange way it seemed very much like drinking a thick milkshake through a straw. She pulled a little harder with her body and drew more energy out of the box.  
  
All of a sudden, the panel snapped shut. It passed through her arm, leaving Electra looking at a very short column of electric energy where her arm had just been. As she drew back in shock, her electric appendage re-formed itself.  
  
"Don't be startled," said Magneto. "You cannot be harmed by physical means. I could take a gun and shoot at you and the bullets would pass right through your body. Think about what this means for you. You no longer require food or water to survive. That energy is all you need,"  
  
"Can I have some more?" she asked.  
  
"In time. Let's practice using your powers some more first," he said.  
  
He's using me like some kind of lab rat, Electra thought to herself, but for the time being there was nothing she could do but go along with Magneto's experiments. She walked back to the center of the room and got ready for the next part of her "training".  
  
X  
  
Toad pulled Lance's jeep up to the Institute's front gate. He shuddered as he recalled the first night he had been in this place. He had gotten a pretty bad reception from the X-Men and had nearly gotten killed when Kurt had teleported them both into the Danger Room. Since then he had generally made it a point to stay clear of the Institute if he could help it, but today he needed to be here.  
  
He parked the jeep by a nearby tree and took a running hop over the fence. He kept right along the fence as he approached the house so as not to trigger any of the Institute's security systems. He made it around to the forest on the back side of the Institute and began to look around for the person he was seeking.  
  
X  
  
In another part of the forest, Kurt Wagner sat by a small pond, listening to his CD player. He had decided to get out of the house for a bit and enjoy the weather earlier, but the rain had changed his spirits a bit. Now he sat at the edge of the pond, tiredly watching the raindrops bounce off the pond's surface.  
  
"And it was such a nice day out earlier," he said. He saw a fish swim to the surface of the pond and swallow a bug that was resting on the water before it dove back down.  
  
His calm was disturbed by a rustling in the bushes behind the pond. "Who's there?" he asked.  
  
His question was answered a moment later as Toad hopped over one of the tall bushes on the far side of the pond. One of his legs got caught in a branch and he went tumbling into the pond.  
  
"Toad! What are you doing here?" Kurt asked him.  
  
Toad spat out a mouthful of water as he climbed out of the pond. "Well I didn't come here to take a swim, obviously," he said.  
  
"Right. What do you want?"  
  
Toad hopped over to Kurt. "Look, I need your help," he said.  
  
"Forget it!" said Kurt. "I'm still working the bugs out of my holo-imager from the last time I helped you!"  
  
"Hey, look, I know the last time we worked together things got a little hairy, but I think this is serious," said Toad.  
  
"What do you mean 'You think?'" asked Kurt.  
  
"See, it's like this. Gambit showed up at the house today and took Wanda and Pietro with him. They said they were going to see some new mutant Magneto found or something,"  
  
"So why is that so serious? Besides, if Magneto did recruit some new mutant, we would have detected it by now," said Kurt.  
  
"Well, maybe you should get that fancy supercomputer of yours checked out some time," said Toad. "I'm pretty convinced that Gambit was tellin' the truth. And get this, he told Lance and the rest of us that Magneto didn't need us,"  
  
"Didn't need you?" asked Kurt.  
  
"Yeah. He said that Magneto only wanted people he could rely on. I think something big could be comin' up, yo," he said nervously.  
  
"Where are Gambit and the others now?"  
  
"They're at the airport, waitin' for the storm to let up," said Toad. "I was hopin' you could help me get on board the plane,"  
  
"Do you have any idea where they're going?"  
  
"Um, not really,"  
  
"Are you crazy? You want me to just teleport us onto a plane when you don't know where it's going? We could wind up halfway around the world for all I know!"  
  
"Hey, I didn't exactly have a whole lot of time to plan this out, yo!" said Toad angrily. "If this storm hadn't come along, they'd be long gone and so would be our chance of finding out what's going on,"  
  
"Ok, you have a point there," said Kurt.  
  
"Look, this storm could clear up any time. So are you gonna help me or not?"  
  
Kurt thought about this. The last time Toad had asked him for help, it had nearly cost him his relationship with his girlfriend and had nearly gotten him killed to top it off. Where was THIS going to lead?  
  
Before he could answer, his communicator rang. He took it out and heard Xavier's voice on the other end.  
  
"Kurt, where are you?" Xavier asked.  
  
"I'm out by the pond, professor," he said. After a short pause, he added, "Toad is here with me,"  
  
"Toad?"  
  
"Yes, professor. He's been telling me something about how Gambit took Wanda and Pietro to the airport. He says they're all going to see some new mutant that Magneto's recruited,"  
  
There was a silence on the other end, then Xavier spoke again. "I see. Come back to the mansion immediately. I'm assembling all the X-Men in the briefing room in 10 minutes. We have a situation on our hands,"  
  
"Yes, professor. Should I bring Toad with me?"  
  
"Yes, bring him along with you," said Xavier. "He may be able to tell us more,"  
  
"I'll be right in, professor," Kurt said, and turned off the communicator. He turned back to Toad.  
  
"You may be right. Professor Xavier just told me that he's found something. He wants you to come and tell him what you just told me,"  
  
"Ok," Toad said nervously. "But promise me that nothing inside that place is gonna try and kill me, ok?"  
  
"Don't worry," said Kurt. "You'll be fine. Come on," With that, he grabbed Toad's hand and they teleported back to the mansion.  
  
X 


	8. Chapter 8

Kurt and Toad appeared inside the den to find the whole Institute gathered. Toad saw several of the mutants eyeing him suspiciously.  
  
"What's he doing here?" Amara asked.  
  
"Todd is here to help is," said Xavier. "He has vital information on the situation that's come up. Todd, please tell us about what you saw this morning,"  
  
Toad glanced back at Amara, and then began to speak. "It's like this. Me and the rest of the brothers come back from camping out and we find Gambit, Pietro and Wanda packing things up. They told us they were going off to see Magneto and that we weren't invited,"  
  
"Weren't invited?" asked Scott. "Sounds like Magneto got tired of waiting for you,"  
  
"Watch it, Summers!" Toad said angrily. "I'd like to see you have to put up with following pretty boy Pietro's orders all the time. You wanna figure out what's going on here or not?"  
  
"I think we can figure this one out just fine on our own," Scott retorted.  
  
"Enough!" Xavier said, a touch of anger in his voice. "Scott, whether you like it or not, we are going to need Todd's help in this affair," He turned to Toad. "Please, continue,"  
  
Toad glared at Scott but continued his tale. "As I was saying, Gambit said they were going to see some new mutant Magneto had found. First I heard of it, but then again he and Pietro haven't really bothered to tell us much of anything that Magneto does,"  
  
"Did they say where they were going?" asked Jean.  
  
"No, but I followed them,"  
  
"What made you decide to get all heroic all of a sudden?" asked Scott.  
  
"For your information, Summers, I didn't want to let Wanda go without saying goodbye!" Toad said angrily. "Now, they're sittin' at the airport waitin' for the storm to clear up. I figured I could ask blue boy here for help, seein' as how we made such a good team the last time we worked together,"  
  
"I don't know if it's such a good idea to let them just go off by themselves, Professor," Scott warned. "Who knows where Gambit and the others could be headed?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, we do know where they are going," said Xavier. He pressed a combination of buttons on the remote control, and the TV turned on. It was connected directly to Cerebro's mainframe. It displayed a map of the world, with a section of Germany highlited.  
  
"This is the explanation for the visions I've been having," Xavier said. "Cerebro picked this up this morning," He pressed a button and the screen changed. "This is Electra King,"  
  
"Wasn't she the girl that was kidnapped a few days ago?" asked Jean.  
  
"Yes, she is. We're just now detecting her because her mutant abilities have been dormant until very recently," said Xavier.  
  
"Her information says that her X-gene is recessive," said Hank. "Why would her powers suddenly manifest themselves now?"  
  
"We don't know," said Xavier. "But if Magneto is involved than anything could have happened. He must have known about her recessive gene and found a way to activate it,"  
  
"So what are we waiting for?" asked Scott. "Let's load up and see what's going on over there,"  
  
"Not so fast, Scott. We have absolutely no idea what we could be facing," said Xavier, and then turned to Toad.  
  
"Todd, you said you were going to try and get on board the plane. Would you still be willing to try?"  
  
Toad thought about what Xavier was asking. "Are you askin' me to spy for you or somethin'?"  
  
"If you're willing, yes, we would like you to follow Gambit and try to gather reconnaissance on Magneto's precise whereabouts and activities. Now, you won't be going alone. Kurt can help you get onto the plane and he can be your partner while you are over there," Xavier offered.  
  
efore Toad could answer, there was a loud knock at the door. Xavier switched feeds on the TV, which showed Agent Simons standing on the front porch.  
  
"Who's that?" asked Toad.  
  
"FBI," said Scott.  
  
"Great. Now what'd you guys do?" asked Toad sarcastically as Xavier wheeled to the door and opened it.  
  
X  
  
"Good morning, Agent Simons," Xavier said cordially. "What can I do for you today?"  
  
"Good morning, Professor," Simons said. "I'm here because I believe you have some information that I need about this missing girl Electra King,"  
  
"I assure you, Agent, you probably know much more than I do regarding the girl's whereabouts," said Xavier.  
  
"Maybe," said Simons. "But I'm willing to bet you know quite a bit about the men we think kidnapped her," He showed Xavier prints of Gambit and Sabertooth, and also of the picture they had acquired of Mindbender from the airport garage.  
  
"Hmm, yes. Of course," Xavier said as he examined the pictures. "Well, Gambit and Sabertooth are certainly well known to us, and to you as well, I would imagine. This last one, though, I really don't know who he is,"  
  
Simons sensed that Xavier wasn't being entirely forthcoming. "You know a lot about these men, Professor. Why do you think a couple of mutants would kidnap a girl, in broad daylight no less?"  
  
Xavier shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps they have the same criminal impulses that ordinary humans do," he said.  
  
"Well if you ask me, I think it's much more complicated than that," said Simons. "We traced these guys to the airport, and we know the older one took the girl on a plane that was heading for Germany. To me that says they were going to see somebody pretty important. I think you know who I'm talking about,"  
  
"You mean Magneto, of course," said Xavier.  
  
"That's right. Now I got to thinking, why would Magneto want some ordinary girl? And why would he have her kidnapped and flown half way around the world? Then it hit me, she's not so ordinary as she seems. Now I know you two have been in a recruiting race to find mutants and get them on your side. Why was he able to get this one before you did?"  
  
"Magneto and I have not been in any kind of race, as you are suggesting," said Xavier. "I take in mutants as they come to me, or as I find them. Magneto has been much more active in 'recruiting', as you put it. He may have just been lucky with this girl,"  
  
"Or maybe he's just got better means of finding mutants than you do. How do you find your mutants, anyway?"  
  
"I'd rather not discuss that right now," said Xavier. "That information is highly sensitive,"  
  
"Listen, Professor, I need answers and you're not being very forthcoming. Now if I have to, I'll go to a judge and come back here with a. hey, what's that?" Simons asked suddenly, gazing past Xavier's shoulders and into the den.  
  
Scott and Jean had switched the feed back to Cerebro and were making notes. The information on the big screen was clearly visible to Simons. Scott quickly switched off the TV but it was too late.  
  
"What the, hey! You DO know about this!" said Simons angrily. "Professor, I demand that you let me in and give me access to your records, or I will have you arrested for conspiracy and obstruction of justice!"  
  
Xavier looked back at Scott, then slowly wheeled backwards to let Simons into the house.  
  
X  
  
A while later, Simons left the Institute, taking a large amount of Cerebro's information with him. Xavier had convinced him not to take his records on the students and other inhabitants of the Institute, but had to take that as a small victory as Simons had taken nearly everything else, including schematics for the machine. Scott now sat glumly in the den, angry at himself for nearly compromising the secrets of everybody in the Institute.  
  
"Scott, don't worry about this. They were bound to find out one day, anyway," said Xavier. "Right now we have more important matters. We cannot trust Simons' agency to handle this properly. If they try and apprehend Magneto, they will surely bring harm upon themselves. We must handle this ourselves,"  
  
He looked back at Toad. "Well, Todd, can you help us?"  
  
Toad considered for a moment. "Alright," he finally said. "But don't think this means I'm joinin' you guys or anything. I'm just doing this 'cause I want to see Wanda again,"  
  
"Thank you, Todd," said Xavier. "I can give you a satellite phone so you and Kurt can contact us directly from Germany. For now, we just want you to pinpoint Magneto's whereabouts. Don't take any unnecessary risks, and keep in mind that if you get into trouble, you will be by yourselves for quite a while,"  
  
"I understand, Professor," said Kurt.  
  
"Then you'd better get going now," said Xavier. "It looks like the storm is starting to clear up. Good luck to both of you,"  
  
X  
  
Twenty minutes later, Kurt and Toad parked the X-Van on the hill next to the airport. They were relieved to see that Gambit's plane was still sitting on the ground. Just then, the sun broke through the clouds.  
  
"Looks like we'd better hurry up, yo," said Toad.  
  
"Right," said Kurt. He and Toad joined hands, and they disappeared with a BAMF!  
  
They reappeared in a very dark room. Toad couldn't see a thing. 'Hey, where'd you take us?"  
  
"We're in the plane's cargo hold," said Kurt. "You'd better get comfortable. We're going to be here for a long time,"  
  
X  
  
"About time," said Pietro, looking up at the sun. "Let's get going already!" He dashed up onto the plane, not waiting for Gambit and Wanda.  
  
"Such an impatient boy," said Gambit. "He's lucky he's Magneto's son,"  
  
He and Wanda walked onto the plane and waited for it to take off.  
  
X  
  
Down in the hold, Toad screamed as he heard a loud rumbling noise. "What was that?" he asked.  
  
"That's the engine starting up," said Kurt. "Haven't you ever been on a plane before?"  
  
"Um, no," Toad said sheepishly.  
  
"What!?" Kurt shouted. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier!?"  
  
"Sorry, yo," said Toad. "I didn't think it would be like this,"  
  
"Oh, this is gonna be a bad day," Kurt moaned and tried to settle in for takeoff. He covered his ears as the plane rushed down the runway to drown out Toad's screams.  
  
X  
  
Kurt and Toad were not the only mutants heading for Germany that day. At a secluded airstrip in the Tibetan mountains, Mesmero strapped himself in to the pilot's seat of a small plane and prepared for takeoff. He stared at the information that he had been provided on Magneto's new mutant, and how important she was, and then he started up the plane and roared down the runway.  
  
X  
  
In Germany, Magneto was satisfied with how Electra's training was progressing. In addition to being able to activate electrical devices, she was also able to overload them and destroy small objects with electrical bolts. Magneto also found out that she could use her energy to blind scanning equipment and other sensors. Magneto was very impressed with these abilities, and looked forward to possessing them himself soon.  
  
"I think we've done enough for one day," said Magneto. "How do you feel, Electra?"  
  
"Fine," she asked. She was slowly getting used to her powers, even though she still didn't want to think about what she was doing.  
  
"Well then," said Magneto. "We'll just put you back in your capacitor for a while then, shall we?"  
  
Electra immediately stepped back. "No, please. Don't put me back in that thing!" she said, remembering how unpleasant it had felt being confined as pure energy.  
  
"Ah, I see," said Magneto. "You still value your corporeal form, don't you? Why can't you just accept it, and let yourself simply be?"  
  
"I DON'T want to go back in that thing!" she insisted.  
  
"Very well," said Magneto. "You've done very well today. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you stay out for a while. Colossus will come shortly and take you back to your room,"  
  
"Thank you," Electra said softly, grateful for being allowed this bit of freedom. She was also glad because she would be able to investigate her powers a bit more without being observed. During her training, she had been using her knowledge of physics and electricity, and had some strong theories about exactly what she would be able to do. She was hesitant to let Magneto find out about these, for she already suspected that he planned to use her for something bad.  
  
A moment later, Colossus walked into the room. "Follow me," he said gruffly. Electra followed him back to her room, which was essentially a cell, minus the bars on the doors. Colossus shut the door and left her alone.  
  
Electra walked over to the wall and examined a panel. She grabbed it and pulled it loose from the wall, and was rewarded to find a path of circuitry inside. She grabbed it and began to absorb power, completely recharging herself. When she was done, she was glowing brightly. Next, she began to examine the door, looking for some kind of locking mechanism.  
  
She had seen that the door had a coded panel on the outside, which she assumed was connected to the circuitry in the wall. She walked back to the exposed panel and grabbed the circuits, trying to sense which ones ran to the door lock. After a moment, she found the circuit she was looking for. She sent a surge of electricity through the circuits. There was a flash and a shower of sparks emerged from the door, which slid open.  
  
Yes, Electra thought. She walked over to the door and poked her head out into the hallway. Seeing that the hall was clear, she stepped through the door and took a few tentative steps out into the hall.  
  
She looked nervously down at the collar still around her neck, expecting it to light up at any time. Nothing happened. She breathed a sigh of relief, and kept moving down the hallway. She decided to try and make it to the lab and find a computer. If she could, maybe she could get a message out and try and let somebody know where she was and what had happened to her.  
  
X 


	9. Chapter 9

Kurt and Toad had been in the dark hold of the plane for what seemed like an eternity. It had been several hours since they took off, and Kurt could feel his stomach growling. He imagined Toad was just as hungry as he was.  
  
"Toad, I'm going to teleport upstairs and try and get some food," he said. There was no answer.  
  
"Toad, where are you?" he asked. He could normally see in low light, but the hold was pitch black and Kurt could barely see past his face.  
  
"Toad?" he asked as he moved around the hold. He was feeling around with his tail, hoping to get lucky and find the boy.  
  
"Where are, ooof!" he grunted as he stumbled over something skinny. He had found Toad.  
  
"Hey, what gives, yo? I was sleeping!" Toad complained.  
  
"Took you long enough, too," Kurt said. "We're lucky nobody up there heard all your screaming! Anyway, you getting hungry?"  
  
"Yeah. I haven't eaten a thing since this morning," Toad said.  
  
"Ok, I'm going to teleport upstairs and see what I can find," "Hey, wait a sec!" said Toad.  
  
"What is it?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Could you take me up with you? I, uh, kinda have to use the bathroom," Toad said shyly.  
  
"Oh great!" said Kurt. "Can't you just go in Pietro's suitcase or something?"  
  
"C'mon man! I've been holding it for hours!" Toad said.  
  
"Alright, fine. Hang on," Kurt said, taking Toad's hand. The hold lit up briefly as Kurt teleported upstairs.  
  
Kurt and Toad reappeared upstairs in one of the plane's tiny bathrooms. They were very cramped. Kurt quickly locked the door and climbed up on the sink while Toad sat down on the toilet.  
  
"Man, I hope all your smoke doesn't set off the smoke alarm. Hey, how about giving me a little privacy, huh?" Toad asked.  
  
"Believe me, I'd love to," Kurt said. "Hurry up, will you?"  
  
Toad twiddled his thumbs while he went about his business. Kurt wrinkled his nose at the disgusting smell.  
  
"Hey, it ain't supposed to smell good, yo," Toad said.  
  
Suddenly they heard the door rattle. "Hey, is somebody in there?" they heard from outside.  
  
"Pietro!" Toad gasped.  
  
"Sshh!" Kurt hissed. "He'll hear us! You done yet?"  
  
"Yeah," said Toad and reached for the handle.  
  
"No, leave it!" Kurt said. "You'll give us away!" He grabbed Toad's hand.  
  
"Hang on," he said. He unlocked the door and teleported to the back of the plane. A second later, Pietro walked into the bathroom.  
  
"Oh, man!" he said, looking down at the toilet. "Who was in here last?" He reached down to flush and then recoiled, overwhelmed by the stench.  
  
"Ugh!" he said, turning a little green. He took a deep breath and flushed the toilet. A second later, the toilet was clean, although the stench lingered a bit.  
  
Pietro quickly went about his business and walked out of the bathroom, gasping for breath. "Nobody go in there for a while," he said, then sniffed the air again. "Wait a sec, I know that smell," he said, recognizing the familiar odor. "But it couldn't be him, could it? Nah. No way could Toad have gotten on this plane without being seen. He's not even smart enough to find his way out a paper bag, let alone sneak onto a plane. Eh, oh well," Pietro shrugged his shoulders and walked back up to his seat.  
  
"Man, I'd love to throw him out a window right now. Maybe next time I will go in his suitcase," Toad grumbled as he listened to Pietro's insults.  
  
"Let's worry about that later, alright?" said Kurt, and turned towards the plane's pantry. "Now, what do we have here?" he said, looking through the plane's stores. "Aha! Perfect!" he exclaimed as he found a large supply of pretzels, peanuts, and cans of soda. The two mutants gathered as much as they could carry and then teleported back down to the hold.  
  
X  
  
Electra had managed to make her way to the second highest floor of the castle without being spotted. Now she found herself at a crossroads in the corridor, unsure about where she should go. A wrong turn at this point could be disastrous.  
  
As she tried to decide which passage to take, she heard voices coming from behind her. She looked around for a place to hide and found a small storeroom. She hid behind a large crate and waited. A moment later, Magneto and Mindbender walked past the room and stopped near the doorway. Electra could overhear their conversation.  
  
"I am very pleased with Electra's progress so far," she heard Magneto saying. "Our little Livewire will be incredibly useful to us once she fully accepts her powers,"  
  
"Of course," Mindbender said. "And just think how powerful the two of you could be together. Her as a being of pure energy, and you, with your enhanced powers. Nothing would stop you!"  
  
"Yes," said Magneto. "Even if Apocalypse were to return, he would be powerless against us!" "I want to proceed as soon as we are ready,"  
  
"Yes, Magneto," said Mindbender. "It will be a few more days until the next storm comes along, however,"  
  
"No matter. We have the time," Magneto said confidently. "Let Apocalypse return. I will crush him! And then I shall be able to deal with that meddling Xavier and his little band of brats. I shall make Kurt and Rogue return to their true family or else watch as I kill the rest of their friends before I finish with them. Humanity WILL know that their time has ended and that mutants will rule this world,"  
  
My god, he's crazy! Electra thought. She subconsciously stepped backwards and walked right into a stack of crates, which began to rock.  
  
Don't fall, don't fall!, thought Electra. The boxes settled back down, but just as Electra began to relax, they toppled over with a loud crash.  
  
Magneto instantly looked over at the source. "Who's there?" he called into the darkness.  
  
Nobody, just go away!, pleaded Electra in her mind.  
  
Magneto clenched his fist. There was a loud hum, and the crate Electra was hiding behind flew across the room, exposing her hiding spot.  
  
"So," said Magneto. "Our little prodigy is more resourceful than we thought. It seems she is not as loathe to use her powers as she led us to believe,"  
  
Electra tried to run, but Magneto grabbed his control pad and activated her collar. Electra screamed and fell to the ground as the collar's power draining effects kicked in.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please, just make it stop!" she screamed, trying unsuccessfully to pry the collar off of her neck.  
  
"I see that I have been too trusting of you," said Magneto. "You have abused my trust, and for that you must be punished. Mindbender, go find Colossus and tell him to bring the capacitor up here. And take your time,"  
  
Mindbender nodded and walked casually away.  
  
Magneto looked down at Electra, who was now in too much pain to even scream any more. Her aura was starting to grow dim.  
  
"I am starting to question whether it was a good idea to give you this gift," he said. "You are very stubborn, very willful. I don't think you realize just how fortunate you are to receive this gift. In fact, I think you may be little more than a mistake. You are clearly not worthy of the gifts you have been given,"  
  
Electra tried to raise herself up, but could barely get up to her knees. "Please, don't kill me," she begged. "I'll do anything you ask!"  
  
"Very well. Come over here. Now!"  
  
Electra slowly crawled over to Magneto's feet and looked up at him.  
  
"From now on, you will have to work very hard to earn your freedom. When you are not in training, you will spend your time confined either confined in your capacitor or inside a special containment field we have developed. It will render you motionless, but it will let you retain your corporeal form, and for that you should be grateful,"  
  
"I understand," Electra said softly.  
  
"I'm not finished yet. If you want to go on living, you can no longer cling to the notion of being human. You must accept what you have become. Electra, repeat after me. 'I am no longer human'"  
  
"I, I am no longer human," said Electra.  
  
"I never was human,"  
  
Electra hesitated. Magneto immediately increased the power on the collar, and Electra writhed on the floor.  
  
"Say it, or I will leave this on until you're drained dry!"  
  
"I never was human!" Electra forced herself to say.  
  
"I have always been pure energy," he led her on.  
  
"I have always been pure energy,"  
  
"I was created here, in this laboratory. Magneto is my creator,"  
  
"I was created here, in this laboratory. Magneto is my creator,"  
  
"My name has always been Livewire,"  
  
"My name has always been Livewire,"  
  
"I am grateful to my creator, Magneto, for my powers, and my existence,"  
  
"I am grateful to my creator, Magneto, for my powers, and my existence,"  
  
"I will always be faithful and loyal to Magneto, my creator, my father,"  
  
"I will always be faithful and loyal to Magneto, my creator, my father,"  
  
"I will always obey everything my father, Magneto, my creator, tells me, without question, without fail"  
  
"I will always obey everything my father, Magneto, my creator, tells me, without question, without fail,"  
  
Magneto grinned as Electra, now Livewire, surrendered to him and accepted her new identity and her new life. Pain could be a very useful persuader indeed. He did not think Mindbender's powers would be necessary for Livewire to remember who she was and where she had come from. Just then, Mindbender and Colossus returned with the capacitor.  
  
"Now, Livewire. Very soon, the rest of your family will be arriving here. You will meet my other children, Pietro and Wanda. They are your brother and sister, and you will greet them as such. Do you understand, my daughter?"  
  
"Yes, father," Livewire said softly. "I understand,"  
  
"Good. I will let you out when they arrive. For now, you can rest inside your capacitor,"  
  
"Yes, father. Thank you," she said, and then disappeared as Colossus activated the capacitor.  
  
"Take my daughter up to the lab for now," Magneto said. "She'll meet her brother and sister soon,"  
  
Colossus and Mindbender picked up the capacitor and carried it up to the lab, leaving Magneto alone by himself.  
  
Soon, he thought. Very soon, I shall have everything I need.  
  
X 


	10. Chapter 10

Kurt and Toad sat in the dark hold, trying to stave off the boredom that tended to come with long, trans-Atlantic flights. They had spent the last hour or so just talking about random things, and they actually had discovered that they had more than a few things in common.  
  
"So, I guess this'll be a homecoming for you, won't it?" asked Toad.  
  
"Yeah, it will," said Kurt. "I haven't been back to Germany since I first came to the Institute,"  
  
"Planning on going sight-seeing after this mission's over?"  
  
"I might go visit my parents. I haven't talked to them in a while," Kurt said. "My adoptive parents, anyways,"  
  
"Right," said Toad, remembering the relation between Kurt and his real mother, Mystique. "Your family's important to you, ain't it?"  
  
"Yeah," said Kurt. "My adoptive parents were always very friendly to me. It didn't matter that I looked like a demon to them. They were just happy to have a child of their own,"  
  
"You think you ever might try to patch things up with your real mom?" asked Toad.  
  
"No," said Kurt. "She's hurt me too much. She's hurt all of us, remember?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," said Toad. "You know, I never really found her that bad. I mean, sure she yelled at us a lot and I guess she did kinda have it in for you guys, but she was ok most of the time. She was a lot better than my real parents, anyways,"  
  
"What were your parents like?" asked Kurt. He had never known where Toad had come from.  
  
"My dad was really strict. He hated me from the day I was born. And my mom was right from Poland, so I could barely understand half the things she said to me. They didn't take it well when they found out I was a mutant. My dad damn near tried to kill me, but my mom stopped him. I don't know how, but Mystique somehow found me and convinced my parents to let her take me in. She's been the only family I've known since,"  
  
"I never knew," said Kurt. "I'm sorry,"  
  
"You don't know who your real dad is, do you?" asked Toad.  
  
"No, I don't," said Kurt. "And right now I don't really need to know,"  
  
"What would you do if you found out it was Magneto?" asked Toad. "Mystique was running away from him the night she lost you, wasn't she?"  
  
"If that were true, I don't know who I'd kill first," said Kurt angrily. "Him, or myself. I don't care if it were true. I'd never accept him as my father,"  
  
"Wow," said Toad. "Sorry I brought it up. Maybe we should talk about something else,"  
  
"Yeah, good idea," said Kurt.  
  
Just then, the plane shifted forwards.  
  
"Woah, what's going on?" Toad asked nervously.  
  
"We're descending. We're going to land soon," said Kurt.  
  
"Thank god," Toad said. "If I don't get out of here soon I may never be able to see again,"  
  
A few minutes later, the plane touched down on the runway and slowly coasted to a stop. Toad breathed a sigh of relief once the jostling had stopped.  
  
"Hey, we probably shouldn't stick around when they open this thing up to get their bags," said Toad.  
  
"Yeah," said Kurt. He took Toad's hand, and they vanished in a puff of smoke.  
  
X  
  
They reappeared on the far side of the runway. It was early in the morning and the skies were dark, so nobody saw them appear. They quickly ran across the tarmac and hopped over a fence. On the other side, Kurt set up the satellite phone and contacted Professor Xavier.  
  
A few moments later, Xavier's face crackled into view.  
  
"Hello, Professor, we've just arrived. Can you hear me?" said Kurt.  
  
"Yes, Kurt, I can here you," said Xavier. "I take it you weren't detected?"  
  
"No problems, Professor," said Kurt. "We're going to follow Gambit and see where he takes us,"  
  
"Good. Cerebro has narrowed Electra's mutant signature to a 30-mile radius of your location. We're going to set out for Germany in two hours. That should give you plenty of time to follow Gambit to Electra's location and gather some reconnaissance before we arrive. We'll rendezvous with you back at the airport at oh-800 your time," "Roger, Professor," said Kurt, and deactivated the phone.  
  
"What does he mean oh-800?" asked Toad.  
  
"Military time," Kurt replied. "It means eight o clock,"  
  
"But that was 6 hours ago!" Toad said, looking at his watch.  
  
"No, silly!" Kurt said. "We're a day ahead of New York right now,"  
  
"Oh," said Toad, blushing a little as he adjusted his watch.  
  
"I just hope we can find a place to rent a car this early," said Kurt, and they set off for the terminal.  
  
X  
  
A little while later, Kurt and Toad were cruising down the autobahn behind the wheel of a sleek silver Mercedes. They were driving a comfortable distance behind Gambit so they wouldn't be noticed. They followed him through the German countryside until they approached the Magneto's castle.  
  
"This looks like the place," Toad said as Kurt stopped the car. They ran up to the edge of a cliff, where Kurt pulled out a set of binoculars and they watched Gambit stop the car at the castle's drawbridge. A moment later the bridge lowered and Gambit drove across. Kurt and Toad watched the car's inhabitants get out. Wanda yawned and stretched as she got out.  
  
"Boy, she's something, ain't she?" Toad asked Kurt.  
  
"Sure, if you like dealing with psychopaths," said Kurt.  
  
"Hey, deep down she's a big sweetheart," said Toad. "Say, how's things with your girlfriend, anyway?"  
  
"Fine, no thanks to you," said Kurt. "Believe it or not, her family didn't try and kill me that night you broke into their house,"  
  
"Oh yeah, right," said Toad. "Sorry about all that. Guess I should have knocked first,"  
  
Kurt rolled his eyes.  
  
"Hey, they're going inside!" said Toad  
  
"I see them," said Kurt. "Hang on a minute. I have to contact the Professor," He set up the phone and waited for it to connect. Several seconds passed before the Professor's face appeared on the screen. The image was very distorted.  
  
"Professor, there's a lot of static on my end. Can you hear me?"  
  
"Just barely," said Xavier. "There must be some interference at your location,"  
  
"Alright," said Kurt. "We've arrived at a castle. This must be where Magneto is. I'm sending you the GPS coordinates now,"  
  
He punched in some numbers on the phone and waited.  
  
"Kurt--- adjust--- not reciev---. -- ease retrans- --ignal. Yo-br--- up,"  
  
Kurt tried to adjust the phone to break through the interference, but it had no effect.  
  
"What's wrong with that thing?" asked Toad impatiently.  
  
"I don't know," said Kurt. "You heard the Professor. Something's interfering with the signal,"  
  
"Here, let me see it," Toad said, picking up the phone.  
  
"What are you doing? Leave it alone," said Kurt.  
  
"Hang on, I think I've got it," said Toad.  
  
"You don't know what you're doing! Let me have it," said Kurt, reaching for the phone.  
  
"Will you wait a sec? I told you I can fix it!" said Toad.  
  
"Toad!" Kurt shouted, and grabbed for the phone. Toad jerked his arm back.  
  
"Hey, leeme alone!" he shouted. Kurt dived for him, and Toad jumped back. As he landed on a rock, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The impact jarred the phone loose from his hand and he watched it bounce off the ground and fall over the cliff.  
  
"No!" Kurt shouted.  
  
"It wasn't my fault!" protested Toad, still looking over the cliff. "Look what you did, you fuzzy freak! If you hadn't, hey, where'd he go?" Toad asked as he turned around. Kurt was nowhere in sight.  
  
Toad scratched his head, trying to figure out where Kurt had gone. A second later, there was a BAMF as Kurt reappeared, holding onto the phone. "Phew, that was close!" he said, wiping a few beads of sweat off his forehead. Then he turned on Toad. "Next time, listen to me when I say not to touch something, will you?" he shouted.  
  
"Hey, sorry, yo," Toad said. "Good thing you can teleport around and stuff,"  
  
"Yes, it IS a good thing," said Kurt. "Otherwise we'd probably be stuck here! Now from now on, listen to me and do exactly what I say, alright?"  
  
"Hey, you ain't the boss of me!" Toad said.  
  
"I am for as long as we're on this mission!" Kurt shot back.  
  
"Fine, whatever, fearless leader," said Toad. "Gambit and the others just disappeared inside. So now what are we gonna do?"  
  
"They're not going anywhere for now," said Kurt. "We're going to wait here until the Professor and the others arrive,"  
  
"How are they gonna know to come here?" asked Toad. "I thought the phone was broken,"  
  
"Even if they didn't get the exact coordinates, they can still trace our signal," said Kurt. "And besides, that castle's pretty hard to miss,"  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," said Toad. "But why just wait around? I say we take a look inside and see what all we can find,"  
  
"We don't know what's in there," said Kurt.  
  
"Ah, c'mon," said Toad. "What are you so worried about? If we run into trouble, you can just teleport us out. And besides, we've got two hours before the rest of your buddies show up. That's plenty of time to scope the place out. Gotta be better than just sitting around doing nothing," he said.  
  
Kurt gritted his teeth. He would have preferred to wait until help arrived. But he could sense that Toad wasn't going to take no for an answer and was probably going to go in anyway, with or without him. If he did, Kurt would need to go along to keep him out of trouble.  
  
"I think I'm going to regret this, but fine. Let's go," he said, and they set off towards the castle.  
  
X 


	11. Chapter 11

Back in Bayville, Lance reclined on the sofa. The boarding house was very quiet with three of its occupants halfway around the world. Lance was wondering where Toad had gone. He hadn't seen him for a whole day.  
  
"Hey, Fred, have you seen Toad around lately?" he asked.  
  
"Uh, he said something about going to the airport yesterday, and I think I saw him driving over to Xavier's place a little later," Fred said, scratching his head in recollection.  
  
"Oh," said Lance. "Wait, you said he drove?"  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
Lance sprung up from the couch and looked out the window. "I don't believe it!" he shouted, looking out at the empty driveway. "That little slimeball took my jeep!"  
  
"Funny, I never knew he could drive," said Fred.  
  
Lance sighed. "C'mon, let's head over to the freak school and get my ride back," He and Fred walked out the door and began searching for a bus.  
  
X  
  
About a half hour later, they arrived at the Institute. They decided not to wait to be invited in. Fred pulled the gate off its hinges and the two mutants made their way towards the mansion. Lance used his powers to destroy the security devices scattered around the yard.  
  
Inside the house, the intruder alarms began to sound just as the mutants were preparing to leave.  
  
"Great, now what?" asked Scott as they made their way upstairs.  
  
They got to the den, expecting to see Juggernaut or some other formidable foe waiting for them. Instead, the place was empty. Then, there was a knock at the door.  
  
Scott opened the door slowly and saw Lance and Fred standing on the porch.  
  
"Lance, what do you want?" asked Scott. "We really don't have time for this,"  
  
"Hey, chill out, Summers," said Lance. "I just came by to get my jeep back,"  
  
"You know, you could have like, called first," said Kitty. "How'd you know Toad drove it over here, anyway?"  
  
"So he was over here!" said Fred. "What was he doing, anyway?"  
  
"Oops," said Kitty.  
  
"Why are you guys all dressed up like you're going on some mission or something?" Lance asked suspiciously.  
  
"For your information, Lance, we're going over to Germany to investigate some new mutant Magneto's found," Scott replied impatiently.  
  
"So Pietro was telling the truth for once," said Fred. "So where's Froggy and your little fuzzy teddy-bear, anyway?"  
  
"Kurt and Toad are already over there, scouting for us," said Xavier. "Now if you'll excuse us,"  
  
"Hang on!" said Lance. "If you're going to tangle with Magneto, then we want in. We've got a score to settle with Gambit and Pietro,"  
  
"Yeah!" said Fred.  
  
"Fine, have fun walking," said Scott. "If you leave now, you might get there by the time you're 100," He started to close the door. Xavier stopped him.  
  
"Wait, Scott. They could be useful to us on this mission. Besides, if we encounter Magneto's entire group of mutants we'll need all the help we can get,"  
  
"Geez, Professor, what is this, 'Be kind to evil mutants' week or something?" Scott asked sarcastically, then turned to Lance and Fred.  
  
"Ok, you can come. But don't cause any trouble!"  
  
"Dude," Fred said to Lance. "We're going on vacation!" The two boys exchanged high fives while Scott sighed.  
  
A few minutes later, all of the mutants were loaded into the X-Jet and they were en route to Germany.  
  
X  
  
Kurt and Toad had climbed up the side of the castle wall, and were now making their way inside. Their footsteps echoed softly off of the stone floors. The halls were narrow and dimly lit. The air had a very dank feel to it.  
  
Toad ducked as a bat flew past his head. "Man, this place is like somethin' out of a horror movie, yo," said Toad. "So what exactly are we lookin' for, anyway?"  
  
"Magneto will probably have some kind of lab in here someplace," said Kurt.  
  
"Gotcha," said Toad. "Well, if I see any mad scientists lurking about, I'll give a yell," He saw a spider web hanging in a doorframe, and flicked out his tongue, catching a quick snack.  
  
They made their way to the end of the hall and found a large wooden door. Opening it, they found that the setting on the other side was vastly different. The walls and floors were made of solid metal, giving the place a very futuristic look. It was a stark contrast to the gothic hallway they had just been in.  
  
"Looks like we're on the right track," said Kurt, and they walked through the door.  
  
X  
  
As the two mutants made their way down the hall, they heard voices coming the other way.  
  
"Quick, get out of sight!" said Kurt, and pulled Toad into a small room. They crouched by the door and listened.  
  
"Man, Father sure has some weird tastes in decorating," they heard Pietro say.  
  
"It's not supposed to be a resort, brother," Wanda replied. "Whatever Father's doing here, it's got some pretty high tech stuff involved,"  
  
"Hey, Wan-mmmph!!!" Toad started to say, but Kurt wrapped his hand around the boy's mouth.  
  
"Quiet! You'll give us away!" he hissed.  
  
Pietro stopped in the middle of the corridor. "Hey, you hear something?" he asked Wanda.  
  
"I didn't hear anything," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe this place is haunted," she said and giggled.  
  
Pietro sniffed the air. "No, ghosts don't smell that bad. It smells more like, Toad!" he said.  
  
"No way!" said Wanda. "How could Toad be here?"  
  
"I don't know, but I smelled the same thing on the airplane on the way over. Keep your eyes open. I'm going to tell Gambit," Pietro said, and walked off. Wanda stayed behind.  
  
Toad stood up.  
  
"Where are you going?" Kurt asked.  
  
"I'm gonna go say hi," said Toad.  
  
"Are you nuts? Get back here!" Kurt insisted.  
  
"Hey, she's all by herself. She's not gonna turn us in. Besides, I won't even say anything about you," Toad said. With that, he walked out into the hall.  
  
"Wanda! Sweetums!" Toad said happily.  
  
Wanda cringed in recognition of that voice. She turned around and saw Toad, as expected.  
  
"Pietro was right. This place IS haunted!" she said. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"You don't think I'd let my sweetie go off around the world without even saying goodbye first, do you?" Toad asked sweetly. "How about a kiss for old time's sake, huh?" he asked, leaning in close.  
  
"I'd rather drop dead," said Wanda, and shoved him away. Toad landed on the ground and looked up at her sadly.  
  
"Ok, fine," he said sadly. "I can see the magic's gone. I'm just glad I got to see you one more time," He gave her a puppy-dog stare that was so blatant it was practically nauseating.  
  
Wanda rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on," she said, pulling him up.  
  
"I knew it. No woman can resist my charms," said Toad.  
  
"Don't kid yourself," said Wanda. "Now look, you'd better get out of here. My father's doing some very important work here, and if he catches you, who knows what he'll do. He might hook you up to one of his machines or something. Now tell me the truth. Why did you really come here?"  
  
"I just came to get a look at this new mutant Magneto found," Toad said.  
  
Oh no, thought Kurt.  
  
"What do you know about her?" asked Wanda suspiciously.  
  
"Um, nothin' really, other than what Gambit told us," Toad said. "Oh, and I guess she's supposed to have some kind of strange powers, and that's why Magneto kidnapped., oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that part,"  
  
Wanda backed away. "You've been spying on us!" she shouted.  
  
"Well hey, you were the ones who walked off and left us!" said Toad. "It's not my fault I had to go ask Professor X what was going on,"  
  
"You went to Xavier!?" Wanda asked incredulously. "That's it! I'm telling my father you're here! I'm not going to let you ruin everything for us!" she shouted. She turned around and walked right into Kurt's fist.  
  
X  
  
Wanda crumpled to the floor as Kurt punched her right in the temple, knocking her out.  
  
"Great going!" said Kurt. "Help me get her out of sight!"  
  
They both dragged Wanda into a nearby closet and shut the door.  
  
"We'd better get out of here before anybody else finds us," said Kurt.  
  
"Good idea," said Toad. "I think I've seen enough of this place,"  
  
X  
  
Up in the control room, Mindbender had observed Kurt and Toad on the security monitor. He activated the intercom. "Magneto," he said. "We have intruders,"  
  
X  
  
Kurt and Toad ran quickly down the corridor, hoping to escape from the castle undetected. As they approached the door that led out of the lab section, there was a loud hum and it slammed shut. They turned around to see Magneto, Pyro, and Colossus standing at the other end of the hallway.  
  
"Oh no!" said Kurt.  
  
"So. It seems we have some unwelcome visitors," said Magneto menacingly. Colossus and Pyro advanced towards them.  
  
"Hey, don't just stand there, get us out of here!" shouted Toad.  
  
Kurt grabbed his wrist and closed his eyes in preparation to teleport. Nothing happened.  
  
"C'mon, what are you waiting for?" asked Toad desperately.  
  
"Something's wrong!" said Kurt. "I can't teleport!"  
  
"Yes," said Magneto. "That's just one feature of my security system. As you can imagine, I'm not particularly fond of guests here, mutant or otherwise,"  
  
Kurt and Toad looked at each other. "We're doomed," they said simultaneously.  
  
"Take them!" said Magneto, and the two acolytes charged down the hall.  
  
"Look out!" Kurt shouted as Pyro shot a jet of flame at them. Kurt felt his fur singe as he jumped out of the way. The hallway was very narrow and they didn't have room to maneuver.  
  
"Gotcha covered, yo!" Toad said and took a flying leap at Colossus. "Yaaaahhh!!!" he shouted as he flew kamikaze style through the air. He collided with the mutant with a loud clang and fell to the floor. He looked up to see Colossus glaring down at him.  
  
"Oh yeah, forgot about that," said Toad, remembering the mutant's thick armor.  
  
He tried to scramble away but Colossus quickly reached down and grabbed his leg. Toad screamed as Colossus dragged him out of the room.  
  
"Toad!" Kurt shouted and tried to come to the boy's aid. Pyro cut him off and shot another jet of flame at him.  
  
Kurt had no time to dive out of the way. He threw up his arms to shield his face from the fire and cringed as he felt his fur and skin burn. He looked up as the fire dissipated to see Magneto coming towards him.  
  
Kurt desperately looked around for a way out as Magneto came closer. His eyes found a narrow window and he leapt into the air, diving through it and avoiding Magneto's grasp. Unfortunately, in his haste, Kurt hadn't realized how far of a drop it was down to the ground.  
  
X  
  
Kurt screamed as he fell and hit the ground with a loud thud. After a few moments, he dragged himself off the ground and took stock of his injuries.  
  
He was bleeding from several small cuts. He winced in pain as he felt large patches of burnt skin on his forearms. He also felt very sore in his chest. He took a breath and screamed as his chest burned with the pain of broken ribs.  
  
As he tried to walk, his left ankle gave way and he stumbled back to the ground. He thought about Toad, still trapped inside and now a prisoner of Magneto. He regretted not being able to help him. He thought about trying to make a rescue attempt but realized that in his current state, such an attempt would be suicidal. Gritting his teeth, he slowly crawled away from the castle. Until the Professor and the others arrived, Toad was on his own and totally at Magneto's mercy.  
  
X  
  
Back in the castle, Pyro looked down at Kurt from the window. "Looks like he survived. You want I should go and finish the job?" he asked.  
  
"Don't bother," said Magneto. "We have what we need for now,"  
  
"He could contact Xavier's bunch," Pyro said cautiously.  
  
"Let them come, then, and they will suffer the same fate as Mr. Wagner," Magneto growled, and floated out of the hallway.  
  
X 


	12. Chapter 12

Colossus dragged Toad all the way down to the castle's dungeon, ignoring the mutant's protests. He pulled open the thick iron door and tossed Toad into the dank, dark room. Toad made a break for the door but Colossus slammed it in his face and walked off without saying a word. Toad slumped back against the wall glumly.  
  
"Man, why'd I have to get so heroic? I should have just stayed home," he grumbled.  
  
He saw a large beetle dart out from a crack in the wall and scuttle around the floor. "Well, at least I won't have to worry about starving in this place," he said, and shot out his tongue at the bug. He caught it and dragged it into his mouth, but as he bit down into it, it let out a putrid stream of liquid. Toad began to gag and spit the remains of the bug out.  
  
"Gah! Man, what kinda bugs they got in this place anyway? This country stinks!" he complained, and settled back to wait. He had a feeling he was going to be in this room for a long time.  
  
After a while, Toad began to think about Kurt. The last thing he had seen as he was getting dragged off was Kurt getting blasted by Pyro's flames.  
  
"I hope he made it out ok," Toad said. "I'd hate to think of what Magneto's gonna do to his furry hide,"  
  
Just then, he heard a voice at the door. "Toad? Are you in there?" The voice had a thick accent.  
  
Toad jumped up and hopped over to the door. "Kurt, that you? You ok?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah," said the voice. "I'm alright. I brought the others back with me. Hang on, we're going to get you out of here,"  
  
"'Bout time, yo," said Toad. "I've had enough of just sittin' around in the dark,"  
  
The door opened to reveal a very bright light. Toad couldn't see much past the door, but he walked out anyway.  
  
"Kurt?" he asked, still not able to see much. "Where are ya?"  
  
"Surprise!" said another voice, definitely not Kurt's. Toad recognized it immediately.  
  
"Pietro. Just what I need right now," he said dejectedly.  
  
"I've been working on my impressions," laughed Pietro. "Whaddya think?"  
  
"Yeah, real funny. Great joke," said Toad. "I guess I'll just go back in my cell now,"  
  
"Ah, hang on just a minute there, Toad," said Pietro. "My father wants you to join him for a bit. He thinks you can help him in some of his research,"  
  
"Do I have a choice?"  
  
"Well, no. Not really,"  
  
"Great," said Toad as Colossus stepped into view. "Oh no, not you again. Hey, really, I can walk this time, you don't have to waah!" he shouted as Colossus picked him up and flung him over his shoulder.  
  
"Pietro, when I get out of here I am going to send a very strong note to the concierge about the way this place treats its guests!" Toad said sarcastically as Colossus carried him upstairs.  
  
X  
  
Kurt had made it back to the car, and he was laying on the back seat, trying to rest. He had tried to contact Xavier but had had no luck. He sighed and felt another twinge of pain in his chest from his cracked ribs. His breaths were very shallow and he was struggling to stay awake. He figured that he probably had a concussion to go along with all of his other injuries. He forced himself to remain conscious, remembering the slim amount of medical training he had received from Logan. He knew that if he fell asleep, he could lapse into a coma.  
  
"I hope they get here soon," he wheezed, and grimaced again at the pain.  
  
X  
  
In the X-Jet, Jean and Scott were trying to trace Kurt's last signal. The interference had made it impossible to pinpoint, and they had been combing over several square miles trying to find him.  
  
"Jean, can you pick up any readings from his mind?" asked Xavier.  
  
Jean concentrated, trying to pick up on Kurt's thoughts. She strained her mind as she searched for him. Finally, she said, "I can't pick anything up, Professor. This interference could be blocking his mental signals, or he could be injured," Or worse, she thought.  
  
Logan growled at the thought of Kurt dying alone in the woods by himself somewhere while they were flying around blindly. "The elf's gotta be out there somewhere," he said.  
  
"Didn't he say he had followed Gambit to a castle?" asked Scott from the pilot's chair.  
  
"Yes, he did," said Xavier. He accessed the geographical atlas on the X- Jet's computer and began searching. After a moment, he got his answer. "Here. Schloss Leischtagg," said Xavier. "It's just a few miles from our location,"  
  
"New course already laid in," said Scott.  
  
"How do you suppose Toad's doin' down there?" Fred asked Lance.  
  
"Ah, knowing him, he's probably running back to the airport by now," Lance replied.  
  
The X-Jet flew on, searching for Kurt.  
  
X  
  
In the car, Kurt heard a loud rush of air overhead. It sounded very much like a jet engine. Looking up, he saw the faint outline of the X-Jet approaching on the horizon. He saw that the plane was going very fast.  
  
"Finally!" he said, ignoring the pain of speaking. Then he had another look and realized they were flying very high. "Oh no!" he said. "They're not even going to see me!"  
  
Suddenly, he remembered the emergency kit in the trunk. He pulled himself up and rolled out of the car. He limped around to the back of the car, opened the trunk, and began to search for the emergency kit. After a moment, he found it, opened the case, and pulled out a flare.  
  
"I hope they see this," he said, and lit it. Leaning against the car for support, he threw it a few feet away from the car and then pulled out another one. He did the same with this one, and repeated the process until there was a small ring of flares lying on the ground. He lit the last one and held it in his hand, waving it over his head.  
  
"C'mon, c'mon!" he pleaded.  
  
X  
  
Kurt's pleas did not go unanswered. Up in the X-Jet, everybody saw the small dots of light that suddenly appeared on the ground.  
  
"That's gotta be him!" said Scott. "I'm setting us down,"  
  
A few moments later the X-Men were on the ground. Scott and Jean ran to meet Kurt at the car and Xavier wheeled closely behind.  
  
Kurt saw his friends approaching and waved his burnt hand feebly. "Hey, nice of you guys to show up!" he called. "What took you so long?" Then he collapsed to the ground, the pain overcoming him.  
  
"Kurt!" Jean yelled and ran up beside him. "Oh my god, what happened to you?" she asked as she examined his injuries.  
  
"I made like Humpty Dumpty and had a bad fall," said Kurt, gasping for breath.  
  
"We're going get you on the jet," said Scott. "We can treat you there,"  
  
"Kurt, where is Toad?" asked Xavier.  
  
Kurt gestured towards the castle with a three-fingered hand. "He's trapped in there," he said. "Magneto's got him,"  
  
"Oh no!" said Scott. "We've got to go in and rescue him,"  
  
"Wait, Scott," said Xavier. "We must not rush into things so suddenly. Kurt must get treatment and tell us what he knows about the inside of the castle before we can make a rescue attempt. Todd will have to wait for the moment,"  
  
"Alright, Professor. I just hope he's still in one piece," said Scott. He carefully picked Kurt up and carried him back to the plane.  
  
X  
  
Fred and Lance looked up in shock as Scott brought Kurt on board the jet.  
  
"Whoa! What happened to him?" asked Lance.  
  
"He had a run-in with Magneto," said Scott. "Still want a piece of him?"  
  
Lance gritted his teeth. This situation was a lot worse than he had thought.  
  
Scott lay Kurt down on a bench in the back of the jet. "Just hang on," he said. "We'll get you patched up in no time,"  
  
He pulled out a scanner from the jet's small medical bay and began to run it over Kurt's body. It told him how badly hurt Kurt was.  
  
"You're beat up pretty bad," said Scott. "You've got a concussion and a couple of broken ribs. Looks like there may be some internal bleeding too. I'd say you're one lucky little mutant to survive that fall,"  
  
"Believe me, I don't feel so lucky," said Kurt.  
  
Scott pulled out a pair of instruments. "Time to see if these things work as well as they're supposed to," he said and turned them on.  
  
Kurt was half-expecting Scott to cut him open right there and then, but surprisingly, nothing seemed to happen. The instruments emitted soft, gentle beams of light that played over Kurt's chest.  
  
"What's happening?" he asked.  
  
"These are sonic surgical tools," Scott said. "They can heal broken bones without the need for major surgery. Try and lie still,"  
  
Kurt lay still while Scott finished running the instruments over his chest, and then moved onto his ankle. A few moments later, he switched them off. "There, done," he said. "How do you feel?"  
  
Kurt slowly sat up. "Still pretty sore, but I feel like I can breathe normally again,"  
  
"Good," said Scott. "You'll probably feel a little stiff for a few days, but the bones have healed. Now, let's get those burns taken care of,"  
  
Scott pulled out a pair of surgical adhesive strips. He peeled off the backings and used the strips to cover the burns on Kurt's arms. "This should help keep the burns covered while they heal up. The bandages secrete a natural healing agent that'll speed up the skin regrowth. You should be feeling normal again in about a week,"  
  
"Thanks, doc," said Kurt.  
  
"Just don't call me nurse," Scott teased.  
  
Kurt laughed and then stood up as Xavier wheeled up.  
  
"Kurt, what can you tell us about what you saw?" he asked.  
  
"We didn't see very much," said Kurt. "We ran into Wanda and Pietro before we got too far inside. We didn't see any sign of this new mutant either. And Magneto captured Toad while we were trying to escape. I tried to save him, but I couldn't,"  
  
"I understand," said Xavier. "We'll have to rescue him as well,"  
  
"There's one other thing," said Kurt. "Magneto has some kind of security system that blocks some mutant powers. I couldn't teleport when I was in there, but Pyro and Colossus seemed to be able to use their powers just fine,"  
  
"That is very troubling to hear," said Xavier, furrowing his brow. "Not knowing who would be able to use their powers would complicate our rescue situation,"  
  
"I have an idea, Professor," said Kurt. "Let me go back in,"  
  
"Kurt, are you nuts?" Lance asked him incredulously. "You almost got killed in there and you want to go BACK?"  
  
"Hear me out," said Kurt, and he told them about his plan.  
  
X  
  
When he was done, Xavier was convinced that it could work. "Alright, Kurt. I'll make the necessary adjustments," he said.  
  
"Kurt, when you're in there, you'll need to shut down Magneto's security grid. When you do that, you should be able to use your powers again," said Jean.  
  
"When you get that done, teleport back to the roof," said Scott. "That'll let us know it's clear, and we'll send in the cavalry,"  
  
"Hey, don't forget about us," said Lance. "We didn't come all the way around the world for nothing, ya know,"  
  
"Don't worry, Lance," said Xavier. "You'll have your chance to settle your grudge with Magneto before this affair is over," Then he turned to Kurt. "There, it's finished," he said.  
  
"Thank you Professor," said Kurt.  
  
"Here, kid," said Logan. "Take this, too,"  
  
He handed Kurt a small package.  
  
"What is it?" asked Kurt.  
  
"Something I cooked up for a special occasion. I'm sure you'll find a good use for it,"  
  
"Right," said Kurt. The mutants wished him good luck and he made his way out of the plane.  
  
A little while later, Kurt was once again making his way up the walls of the castle, this time by himself. He reached the top undetected and pulled himself up and over the ledge. Looking around, he saw nobody patrolling the roof.  
  
"I hope this works," he said. Bending over, he made a quick adjustment on a piece of machinery he was carrying, and then stood straight up and walked casually into the castle.  
  
X 


	13. Chapter 13

Colossus carried Toad all the way up to Magneto's lab. Magneto was there, along with Mindbender, Gambit, Wanda, and Pietro.  
  
"Wanda, sweetums, will you tell your father that this is all a misunderstanding?" Toad said, trying to appeal to her sympathy. He got nowhere.  
  
"Sorry, Toad," she said coldly. "You should have left when you had the chance,"  
  
"Take him down to the subject pens and secure him," Magneto instructed Colossus.  
  
Colossus walked over to a side door and went down a short flight of stairs. He opened a small door and dropped Toad inside. Then he shackled Toad's leg to a post inside the room, shut the door and left.  
  
Back upstairs, Magneto addressed Wanda and Pietro.  
  
"Children," he said. "It is time for you to meet your new sister,"  
  
With that, a door in the side of the room slid open and a glowing blue figure stepped into the room. Both Wanda and Pietro were astonished to see the figure, and even more astonished when it walked up to them and began to speak.  
  
"Hello, Wanda. Hello, Pietro. I am your sister, Livewire,"  
  
Pietro found himself enraptured by the sound of Livewire's voice. Her voice had a gentle, beautiful, electric quality to it and it filled up the entire room, like she was speaking into a microphone. It sounded purer than any human voice Pietro had ever heard in his life. However, despite its texture, it not sound vibrant and full of life. Rather, it sounded empty and monotonous, almost like a machine that was trying to mimick a human voice. Pietro hardly noticed, however.  
  
Pietro gaped at her in awe, taking in her barely human form. He took in her thinly-defined, face, the slightly feminine curves on her torso and around her waist. Aside from these thin vestiges of humanity, she appeared to him as a pure figure of light and energy.  
  
"H..hh.hhi, um, sis?" he finally managed. "W..what are you?"  
  
"Livewire, I believe your brother has many questions. Why don't you enlighten him?" Magneto said.  
  
"Yes father. My name is Livewire. I am not human, as you can clearly see. I am a being of pure energy. I was created here, in this laboratory, three days ago by my father, Magneto," she said to Pietro.  
  
"But you. no body!" Pietro stammered. He tried to come to his senses. "How can you exist without a body?"  
  
"I do not need a body," Livewire replied. She seemed very happy to say this. "I have no need for substance. I am only energy. How this is possible, I do not know. My father Magneto created me to be this way, and I love him for doing so,"  
  
Pietro turned to Magneto, a lecherous grin on his face. "Wow, pop! I don't believe this!" he said ecstatically. "I gotta hand it to you, you have a hell of a knack for finding mutants,"  
  
"Haven't you been listening to what your sister has been telling you, Pietro?" Magneto asked him gently. "I did not find your sister. I created her,"  
  
Pietro's eyes got even wider. "Are you serious? You actually MADE her?!" he asked.  
  
Magneto grabbed Pietro's hair and pulled him very close. "No, I did not make her, boy. But she must continue to think that I did!" Magneto whispered in his ear.  
  
"Oh, right. Gotcha," said Pietro. "Too bad, though,"  
  
Wanda walked up to Magneto. "Do you mean that she used to be human? Father, is this the girl you had Gambit kidnap?"  
  
"Wanda, we cannot discuss this now," Magneto whispered sternly. "For your sister's sake, you must keep up the ruse, at least for now. I promise I will tell you my reasons for this later. But for now, please do as I tell you. There is too much at stake right now. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes, father," Wanda said.  
  
"Good," said Magneto. Then he turned back to Livewire.  
  
"Daughter!" he called. "How are you feeling right now?"  
  
"I am feeling perfectly well, father," she responded in an empty monotone.  
  
"Good," said Magneto. "Then why don't you give your brother and sister a demonstration of your powers?" he asked.  
  
"Certainly, father," she replied.  
  
Magneto gestured and one of the hatches. It opened up and a table full of small appliances  
  
"Show them what you can do," he said.  
  
Livewire raised her arms. By this point, she was so comfortable with her powers that she scarcely needed to think about what she was doing. Beams of energy shot out of her arms, and the appliances all came to life.  
  
"Woah," said Wanda, impressed. "But can she control them like I can?" she asked Magneto.  
  
"Watch," said Magneto.  
  
Livewire gestured at the table, and a nail gun slowly raised into the air. It slowly began to spin around.  
  
"Uh, she does know what she's doing, right dad?" Pietro asked a little nervously. He felt very uncomfortable with the nail gun floating around like it had a mind of its own.  
  
Suddenly the nail gun came to life and began shooting nails. Pietro screamed and covered his head in his hands. A few moments later, the noise stopped.  
  
"Is it over? Am I dead?" he asked, his body shaking.  
  
"You can look up now, scardy-cat," Wanda said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Pietro nearly jumped through the ceiling when she did so.  
  
"Ok, ok, I'm calm. Really," he said, then caught sight of what Livewire had done. He saw her standing against the wall. Above her several dozen nails had been driven into the wall. He could see they spelled out words.  
  
"Hello, Pietro. I am Livewire," Pietro read.  
  
"Pietro, I think she likes you," Gambit said, nudging him in the ribs playfully.  
  
"Wow, she's something! Let's see some more!" Pietro said.  
  
Livewire pointed at the table of whirring appliances again. This time, a pair of drills rose up and faced each other. Livewire gestured at them again, and the drills began to fight a mock duel, making passes at each other in midair and trying to drill holes in each other's cases.  
  
"This is incredible!" said Wanda. "She's almost as powerful as you, father!"  
  
As if she heard this comparison, Livewire gestured again. The drills stopped their duel and began to fly around the room. They headed straight for Wanda and began circling around her head. Unlike her brother, Wanda retained her composure, even as the whirring machines came to a stop just inches in front of her eyes, their bits spinning wildly.  
  
"Now now, Livewire. You don't want to frighten your sister, do you?" chided Magneto.  
  
"Of course not, father. I am sorry, sister," Livewire said, and returned the drills to the table. She shot more beams out of her arms and the appliances shut off.  
  
"Let's move on to the next part of our demonstration," Magneto said. "Your sister's powers go far beyond simply controlling appliances,"  
  
He gestured again, and a hatch opened in the ceiling. A small drone robot dropped out of it and began to hover in midair.  
  
"Daughter, take care of that, will you?" Magneto said.  
  
Livewire didn't say anything. She pointed her arm at the drone and shot a bolt of energy at the drone. The bolt hit, and the drone began to short- circuit. It deactivated and fell to the ground in a heap.  
  
Gambit was just as impressed as the other mutants in the room were at seeing this. This new mutant would be a great benefit to them indeed. He was already planning out battle strategies for her for the next time they encountered the X-Men.  
  
"Daughter," said Magneto. "We have a few more uninvited guests," He pointed up to the ceiling where four more drones had emerged. Then he turned to the other mutants. "You may want to stand back," he warned.  
  
These drones did not wait to be shot but started flying around the room, shooting at Livewire. The drones fired bullets, acid jets, and flame tongues. Livewire simply stood there motionless, absorbing the drones' attacks harmlessly.  
  
"As you can see, she is completely impervious to fire, solid projectiles, and toxins," Magneto yelled above the noise.  
  
Livewire began firing energy bolts up at the drones. Her aim was not quite perfect, but soon three of the drones wound up on the floor beside the first one.  
  
There was just one more left. This one changed its attack and became very evasive. It also began to shoot energy bolts at Livewire. Livewire recognized the danger she was in and began to dodge. The two engaged in a spectacular duel for a few moments before Livewire got off a good shot and sent the drone crashing to the floor.  
  
"She'll be perfect for us the next time we fight the X-geeks!" Pietro said, very impressed with all of this.  
  
"Yes, she certainly will," said Magneto. "Livewire, you have performed very well so far. Would you like some energy?"  
  
"Yes father," she said. "My levels are getting a bit low,"  
  
"Of course. Go over to the panel there and recharge yourself," said Magneto.  
  
As she did so, Magneto explained to the mutants about Livewire's aura and her constant need to consume energy. Then they prepared for the final stage.  
  
"Livewire, so far you have only used your powers on machines," said Magneto. "Now we're going to expand their use a bit," He gestured again, and another floor hatch opened.  
  
Down beneath the lab, Toad saw a small ray of light emerge from the ceiling above him as the hatch retracted. "Hey, what's goin' on?" he asked nervously. The hatch finished rising and the platform he was on began to rise, taking him up to the lab.  
  
X  
  
Wanda gasped as she saw Toad emerge from the floor, his leg chained to a post, and immediately realized what was about to happen.  
  
"Go on, daughter. Try out your powers some more," Magneto said, pointing at Toad.  
  
Livewire stood still. "But father, that might hurt him," she said, sounding a little confused despite her monotone voice.  
  
"Livewire, your brother and sister are very curious to see what your powers would do to a living person. You don't want to disappoint them, do you?"  
  
"No, father. But I don't want to hurt this person, either," she said.  
  
Magneto quickly reached inside his cape and pulled out the control for her collar.  
  
"Livewire, I thought we were clear that you had accepted your powers and that you would obey me," he said angrily.  
  
"I have, father," she protested. "But you're asking me to hurt him!"  
  
"Livewire, if you do not do as you are told, the pain this person will suffer will be nothing compared to what I do to you!" Magneto thundered.  
  
"Yes, father," she said meekly. She walked to Toad. "I'm sorry about this," she said, and then placed her hand on Toad's exposed shoulder.  
  
Toad screamed as he felt a jolt of electricity rush through him. Livewire removed her hand and Toad saw that the skin on his shoulder was smoking and there was a burn mark in the shape of a handprint left behind.  
  
Wanda grimaced as she watched Livewire torture Toad at her father's urging.  
  
"Good," said Magneto. "Give him some more,"  
  
Livewire took a few steps backwards and shot an energy bolt at Toad. Toad screamed louder as it hit him in the center of the chest, and his body began to shake. Despite the pain he was feeling, he was still standing.  
  
"Cool!" said Pietro. Wanda looked at him like he had just grown another head.  
  
"Stop holding back, daughter! Use your full power!" Magneto insisted.  
  
Livewire hesitated again, and it wasn't until Magneto reached for his control that she complied. She shot a bigger, sustained bolt at Toad. Toad screamed and his whole body spontaneously jumped into the air. Only the shackle around his leg kept him on the floor.  
  
"Hey, whaddya know? Just like in the movies!" Pietro quipped.  
  
"Pietro!" Wanda shouted at him in disgust. She walked up to Magneto.  
  
"Father, stop this! She'll kill him!" she pleaded.  
  
"He betrayed us, Wanda," Magneto said coldly. "He was here spying for Xavier. He is a traitor and he deserves his fate, the same fate that befell his accomplice, Kurt Wagner, not too long ago,"  
  
"You didn't kill Kurt, did you?" asked Wanda. Magneto said nothing in reply.  
  
Wanda walked up to Livewire. "Livewire, sister, please, stop this. You don't have to do this to impress me,"  
  
"But father has asked me to do this," Livewire replied.  
  
"But you're hurting him! "I don't want you to hurt him! He's my friend!" Wanda shouted. Did I just say that, she thought immediately afterwards.  
  
"Your friend?" Livewire asked, sounding uncertain.  
  
"Yes, my friend!" said Wanda. She was feeling desperate at this point, and she could smell Toad's skin beginning to char as he continued to scream in agony. Here goes nothing, she thought. "I like him," she said. "And it's hurting me to see you do this to my friend,"  
  
Livewire looked more and more uncertain. "I don't want to hurt your friend," she intoned. "I don't want to hurt anybody,"  
  
"Sister, please. You're going to kill him. Stop this," Wanda pleaded softly.  
  
Livewire paused, looking as if she was going to release Toad from his agony.  
  
"I am sorry, but I cannot stop," she said. "Father would not approve,"  
  
She turned back to Toad, who continued to scream as Livewire's energy bolt continued to sear his chest.  
  
X 


	14. Chapter 14

Wanda turned back to Magneto. "Father, this has gone far enough! It's bad enough that you kidnapped this girl and changed her into this, that you've convinced her that she's your daughter and you're having us lie to her about who she is, now you're going to have her kill one of my friends!"  
  
Livewire turned to Magneto. "Father, what is my sister saying? I do not understand,"  
  
"Do not pay any attention to her, daughter. Your sister is just confused about what is happening, that is all," said Magneto. He walked up to Wanda. "Wanda, stop this, now!"  
  
"No!" she yelled pulling away from him. If you won't stop this, I will!" Then she fired a hexbolt at Livewire.  
  
Livewire shrieked as the bolt hit her, and the room filled up with an electronic whine that sounded like feedback. Her own energy bolt faded out and her body turned black. Toad collapsed to the floor. His chest was covered with burn marks and his arms and legs were twitching randomly.  
  
"Wanda, stop!" shouted Magneto. "You don't know what you're doing!"  
  
Pietro ran up to her and tried to grab her, but Wanda shoved him away and kept the hex on Livewire. The mutant began to fade out of sight.  
  
"No!" Magneto yelled. He waved his hand, and with a loud metallic groan a steel girder tore itself loose from the ceiling and wrapped itself around Wanda. She lost her concentration and her hex on Livewire was broken. Livewire slowly began to recover.  
  
Magneto walked over to where Livewire was kneeling. "Daughter, are you all right?" he asked her.  
  
"Yes," she said, very faintly.  
  
Magneto gestured to Mindbender. "Take my daughter to her chamber," he instructed. After Mindbender took Livewire out of the room, Magneto walked over to Wanda, who was still struggling unsuccessfully to get loose from the girder.  
  
"You nearly ruined everything!" he yelled at her.  
  
"Why have you done this?" Wanda asked angrily.  
  
"I am sorry I have to tell you like this, Wanda," said Magneto. "I did this to protect myself. There is a very dangerous time coming for us. A very powerful mutant named Apocalypse is trying to break out of his imprisonment. If he does, he could threaten all of us and the entire world! Now do you understand?"  
  
"You shouldn't have done this!" shouted Wanda. "You should have stood up to him!"  
  
Magneto took a step back. "There IS no standing up to him! I am sorry Wanda, that you cannot see what I must do," He waved Colossus over. "Take Wanda to a cell. And that, too," he said, gesturing at Toad.  
  
Colossus pulled Wanda out of the girder as Magneto released his control over it. He flung her over his shoulder and then walked over to Toad. He reached down, broke the shackle off of his leg and picked him up as well. Wanda was relieved to see that despite his wounds, he was still breathing.  
  
X  
  
Later, when they were locked up in adjoining cells, Wanda looked over at him through the bars.  
  
"Toad, can you hear me?" she asked.  
  
Toad coughed and tried to sit up. Wanda could see him grimace in pain.  
  
"No, don't try and move. You've been hurt badly," she said.  
  
"Don't you think I know it," Toad gasped. "And I thought it hurt when you zapped me,"  
  
"I'm sorry about what happened to you," she said. "I didn't know they were going to hurt you,"  
  
"Wanda," he said. "I don't feel too good. I don't think I'm gonna make it,"  
  
"No, Toad! Don't say that!" she said. "Don't give up on me!"  
  
"Sorry, sweetums," he said. "I don't know if I got anything left,"  
  
"Toad, stop saying that!" she shouted at him. "Please, promise me you'll stay with me, for my sake, ok? I need you!"  
  
"What did you say?" he asked.  
  
"I said I need you. Please, don't die," she whispered. She felt a tear begin to trickle down her cheek.  
  
"I knew it! I knew you cared about me!"  
  
A few more tears rolled down Wanda's face. "Of course I care about you!" she said, laughing. "I know I may not show it, but I really do like you,"  
  
"Thanks, Wanda," said Toad. "I appreciate that. Ok, I think I'll be able to make it, now that I know I got somethin' to look forward to,"  
  
"Thank you, Toad," she said. Then she decided to reinforce his commitment. "And if you don't, I'll put a curse on your body and turn you into a walking zombie!"  
  
Toad shrieked in mock fear. "Ok, ok, you win!" he said, laughing a little.  
  
"I knew that'd get you," Wanda said, smiling. "Now if we could just get out of here, maybe we could help that mutant,"  
  
"Babycakes, I think that one's beyond help," said Toad. "Now I know your daddy's done some weird experiments on mutants in the past, but this one takes the cake. She didn't even look human!"  
  
"I know. I can't believe my father would do something like this," Wanda muttered.  
  
"Believe it, Wanda. Your father is not a nice man," said Toad.  
  
"But this doesn't make any sense! It's just not like him!" Wanda said. "I have so many memories of him when I was growing up, and how he seemed so nice! What could have happened to him?"  
  
Toad sighed. This was not going to be easy for her to hear.  
  
"Listen, Wanda, your father isn't the person you remember him being. Those memories you have, they're all fake,"  
  
"What?" asked Wanda suspiciously.  
  
"You never grew up in a happy home, Wanda. Your father had you locked away in an asylum because you couldn't control your powers. He thought you were too dangerous,"  
  
"Toad, please, stop saying that!" said Wanda.  
  
"Wanda, I know this sounds bad, but I promise you it's true," said Toad. "You remember that time we came home from that ski resort, and you couldn't figure out why you had written all those bad things about your father in your diary?"  
  
"Yeah, but I threw that thing out," said Wanda.  
  
"I dug it out of the trash. I can show it to you when we get out of here" said Toad. "Now look, the reason you couldn't understand it was because Mindbender altered your memories,"  
  
"No, that can't be!" said Wanda adamantly.  
  
Toad was starting to panic. There's gotta be some way I can jog her memory, he thought.  
  
"You mean you don't remember him lockin' you away in that place? The bad food, the straightjackets?"  
  
"Toad, I'm not listening to any more of this," Wanda said.  
  
"Wait, just give me a sec to think of something you'll remember!" said Toad. "Ok, I got it! You remember when we broke into that news van a few months ago after that giant robot crashed and burned?"  
  
"Yes," she said. "My father was there. There was some kind of accident,"  
  
"Do you remember what we were looking for?" Toad asked eagerly.  
  
"We were looking for, footage, I think. We were trying to see if he survived,"  
  
"And do you remember what you saw when we zoomed in?"  
  
"We saw, Pietro!" she said, suddenly remembering.  
  
This could be it, Toad thought. "And do you remember what you said when you saw him save your father?"  
  
Wanda tried to recall. She could sense some kind of block in her mind, covering up the image she was looking for.  
  
"I'm trying, but I just can't see it,"  
  
"Maybe this will jog your memory," said Toad. "You said, 'My brother seems to have performed a last-minute rescue',"  
  
Wanda's eyes went wide as her repressed memories came rushing back. She picked up right where Toad had left off. "Which means that Magneto is still alive!" she roared furiously.  
  
Yes! Toad thought, pumping his fist triumphantly.  
  
Wanda screamed and clutched the sides of her head as the flood of memories came flowing back into her head. A moment later, she looked up, a vengeful look in her face.  
  
"When we get out of here, I am going to kill Magneto!" she snarled.  
  
"Now that's the Wanda I remember!" said Toad. "Glad to have you back, er, I think,"  
  
X  
  
Mesmero was jostled around in the cockpit as his plane touched down on the airstrip in Berlin. He guided the plane slowly down the runway, reducing its speed until it came to a halt. He shut down the engines, stood up, and opened the cockpit door. He made his way down the small ladder that was waiting for him.  
  
He had finally arrived in Germany. Now he would be free to search for Magneto and his new mutant. But where to start looking? Apocalypse had told him that he would recognize the signs when he saw them. For now, though, everything looked normal. No matter, he thought. He was prepared to wait as long as he needed to. After all, his master had been waiting for far much longer. He settled down and waited for the answer to come to him.  
  
X  
  
On the other side of the airport, Simons and Jan stepped into the concourse. They had gotten special permission from the State department to come to Germany after analyzing all of Cerebro's information. They believed that they could work with the local authorities to track down Gambit and Sabertooth. Now they waited in the concourse of the airport for their German counterparts to arrive.  
  
"I just hope we haven't come over here too late," Simons said. "It seems like the worst always happens whenever mutants are involved with things,"  
  
Jan raised an eyebrow at this. She hadn't expected her boss to suddenly come around to her way of thinking. However, she did not let her surprise show.  
  
"I'm sure we'll be able to hunt down these people soon enough," she said, trying to see just how far Simon's newfound sympathies extended. "With any luck, we should be able to find the girl before they do anything to her,"  
  
She was pleased to see Simons shudder a bit at this notion and then nod his head. About time he came around, she thought.  
  
X  
  
Down in the dungeon, Pietro was standing guard over Wanda and Toad. He tried to ignore Toad's moans of pain as he talked with his sister.  
  
Wanda tried to keep her wrath concealed. If Pietro caught on that she had recovered her memories, she might never get out here.  
  
"Look, Wanda, you can relax. Dad's calmed down by now. I'm sure he'll let you out of here soon," said Pietro.  
  
"Stow it, brother," she replied. "Hey, why don't you actually make yourself useful for once and try and find some medical supplies,"  
  
"What for?" Pietro asked.  
  
"What for?!" Wanda asked incredulously. "Have you taken a look at Toad lately? He's dying!"  
  
Pietro took a brief look in Toad's cell. "Well, he does look a bit greener than normal," he said. "But you gotta understand, sis, he tried to sell us out to Xavier! You know father can't tolerate that!"  
  
"But he doesn't have to just let him die!" said Wanda.  
  
"I'm sorry, sis, I really am. But my hands are tied. There's nothing I can do about it," said Pietro.  
  
Inside his cell, Toad wheezed for air. "Pietro, when I get out of here, I swear I am going to kill you!" he said. Then he broke into another coughing fit.  
  
"Toad, buddy, look, I'm sorry things had to end up this way. Right now, just try and save your strength, ok? Don't make things any worse then they already are,"  
  
"You heartless monster!" Wanda said. "There's no way I can be related to you!"  
  
"That hurts, sis, that really does," said Pietro. "I'll be sure to tell father about how you feel,"  
  
Wanda glared at him, but sat in sullen silence.  
  
Pietro went back to standing around, and then perked up when he saw a shadow appear in the doorway.  
  
"Halt! Who goes there?" Pietro shouted, trying and failing to sound authoritative with his high-pitched voice.  
  
"Relax, Pietro, it's just me," said a Cajun voice, and Gambit walked through the doorway.  
  
"Oh, Gambit. Hey," said Pietro.  
  
"How are the prisoners doing?" Gambit asked.  
  
"About as well as you'd expect,"  
  
"Good. Keep your eyes open. We may have more intruders,"  
  
"You serious?" Pietro asked.  
  
"Yeah," Gambit replied. "Some of Xavier's people are here,"  
  
"Oh, I hope Daniels is here," said Pietro, rubbing his hands together greedily. "Oh, wait, that's right, he's living in the sewers now. Just as well, the mud and slime will match his complexion. And blue boy got killed falling out that window. Well, then in that case, I hope it's Summers. I haven't kicked his butt in a good long time,"  
  
"Actually, he's not the mutant you need to be worried about," Gambit said.  
  
"Why's that?" Pietro asked.  
  
Gambit said nothing, and then suddenly slugged Pietro hard on the chin. Pietro grunted and fell to his knees. He tried to stand up, but Gambit drove his knee into Pietro's head, and the mutant collapsed, unconscious.  
  
"Because I am," Gambit said.  
  
"Hey, what's goin' on out there?" Toad said, sitting up.  
  
Gambit walked over to Wanda's cell.  
  
"You alright?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, but what are you doing?" she asked him, unable to believe that Gambit was helping them break out.  
  
"You'll see," he said with a grin. He took a step back and rolled up his sleeve.  
  
Toad watched Gambit as he adjusted his watch, and then burst out laughing.  
  
"That old trick again? You gotta be kidding me!" he laughed.  
  
"Hey, it worked the last time," said Kurt, now standing in his true form. "Now let's get you out of here,"  
  
He knelt down and retrieved the keys from Pietro's prone form. A moment later he had the doors unlocked and was helping Toad out of his cell.  
  
"Can you walk?" asked Kurt.  
  
"Yeah, I think so," said Toad.  
  
"Great," said Kurt. "Let's get going then,"  
  
"Hang on a sec," said Toad, as he saw Pietro began to regain his senses. "There's somethin' I wanna do first,"  
  
He walked over to Pietro. "Pietro," he said. "This is from the bottom of my heart, for everything you've given me over the last three years," Then he pulled back his leg and kicked Pietro in the groin.  
  
Pietro howled in agony as Toad walked past him. "Man, that felt good!" said Toad. The three mutants rolled Pietro into one of the cells and locked him in.  
  
X 


	15. Chapter 15

"I don't suppose you want to stay down here, do you?" Kurt asked Wanda.  
  
"Depends. What are you going to do now?" asked Wanda.  
  
"We're going to try and help that mutant, if we can," said Kurt.  
  
"Just the two of you?"  
  
"No, Professor X and the X-Men are waiting for us outside. So are Lance and Fred,"  
  
"They actually came here?" asked Toad and Wanda simultaneously.  
  
"I was just as surprised as you," said Kurt. "I guess you're not the only one who wants to get at Magneto,"  
  
"Seems like that list gets a little bit longer each day," said Wanda. "So what's the plan?"  
  
"First, we need to find out exactly why I can't use my powers in this castle," said Kurt.  
  
"It's his security system," she replied. "It's set up to block mutant powers. You have to have your DNA coded into the machine to be able to use your powers,"  
  
"And let me guess, I'm not on the approved list,"  
  
"We've got to find that machine and destroy it before the others can help us,"  
  
"I've got something that should do the trick," Kurt said, patting the pouch that Logan had given him. "Where's this machine?"  
  
"It's at the top of the castle, in Magneto's lab. If I'm right, we should be able to find Livewire close by," replied Wanda.  
  
"Then let's get going," said Kurt, and the three mutants took off up the stairs.  
  
X  
  
Gambit shuffled his cards as he and Mindbender sat in the lab's living quarters. Gambit blew the steam off of his coffee and took a swig of it.  
  
"Hmm, not bad," he said. "Even if it is imported. So, tell me exactly how Magneto plans on using this girl again," he asked Mindbender.  
  
"She is only a test subject, to make sure our procedure is not safe," Mindbender replied. "Magneto believes that Apocalypse's return is inevitable, but that he is vulnerable. Are you familiar at all with the Unification Theory of matter and energy?"  
  
"I got expelled from school before I even took physics," Gambit said. "Why don't you sum it up for me in fifty words or less,"  
  
"That would be impossible," Mindbender chuckled. "But I shall try to be as succinct as I can. Scientists have theorized that all of the physical forces in the universe originated from one unified force. As time passed after the universe's creation, these forces slowly separated into their own entities: electric, magnetic, gravitational, and nuclear. Magneto believes that the separation of these forces is partly responsible for the diversity of the X-gene among mutants, as well as all the variations of mutant powers that we have observed so far,"  
  
"So you're saying that the reason I can charge things up, you can mess with people's minds, Magneto can do all his magnetic tricks and so on, is all because of the way a few atoms here and there split and collided billions of years ago?" asked Gambit.  
  
"There are so many variables, so many unexplored mysteries to resolve. But it may be possible that that has some small part in the differences between your powers and mine," said Mindbender. "Clearly, it will take a considerable amount of time and research to answer,"  
  
"In that case, I don't expect it's something either of us will live long enough to see," said Gambit. "Given humanity's 'understanding' of mutants, as well as Magneto's impatience,"  
  
"Indeed," Mindbender mused. "But we may not have to worry about humanity's perceptions of us for too much longer. With this procedure, Magneto is hoping to combine his own magnetic powers with the force of electricity. This will make him an incredibly powerful mutant, strong enough for him to contend with Apocalypse if he does return. He also believes that he can use his stronger powers to reseal the dimensional barrier that is holding Apocalypse prisoner long enough for him to fully control the Unified Force. When he accomplishes this, he will have the power to control matter and energy at the subatomic level. He will be able to make and unmake anything he wishes. In essence, he will become a god,"  
  
Gambit sat in awed silence as he listened to Mindbender's theory. "Such power," he said. "It seems impossible to believe,"  
  
"Magneto has found a way to make it possible, with time. Soon, he will be the master of the universe!"  
  
"And we'll be right there by his side," Gambit grinned and flipped a card up in the air. "Sounds like fun," he said. The card, the ace of spades, landed face up on the table. Gambit swept it back into his deck and stood up, leaving Mindbender alone at the table.  
  
X  
  
Thanks to Wanda's help, she, Kurt and Toad had been able to stay out of sight while they made their way up to Magneto's lab. Despite Toad's injuries, he was doing a good job of keeping pace with them. After several minutes, they reached their destination. The room was filled with all sorts of computers and other equipment.  
  
"We're here," said Wanda as she looked at the machinery throughout the vast room.  
  
Kurt walked up to one of the computers. "I can't make any sense out of this," he said. "Do you know which one it is?"  
  
Wanda took a look around, baffled by all the equipment. "I don't know," she said. "You'll have to guess,"  
  
"I don't think this package Logan gave me is strong enough to destroy everything in this room," Kurt said. "We can't afford to guess wrong,"  
  
"Hey, c'mon," said Toad. "There's got to be a clue around here somewhere," He started walking around the room, randomly pressing buttons on machines.  
  
"Toad, maybe you shouldn't just go messing around with stuff like that," said Wanda. "You might set off an alarm,"  
  
"Oh, what's the worst that could happen?" he asked.  
  
"Like you even need to ask," Kurt said. "What did I tell you about listening to me?"  
  
Toad ignored him and reached for another lever.  
  
"Toad, wait!" Kurt shouted. "Don't pull that!"  
  
He was too late, as Toad grabbed the lever and pulled it down. A bright blue light lit up on the side of the room and a panel in the wall began to slide back.  
  
"I told you not to, woah! What it that?" Kurt started to yell, then stopped as he saw a blue and yellow energy field secreted in the wall behind the panel.  
  
X  
  
Kurt walked closer, and he made out what looked to be a human form lying down behind the field.  
  
"Is that the mutant?" he asked.  
  
Toad walked up and took a closer look. "Yeah, that's her alright," he shuddered.  
  
"What did Magneto DO to her?" Kurt asked.  
  
Livewire stirred.  
  
"Um, hey," said Kurt. "Can you hear me?"  
  
The mutant slowly sat up and looked at Kurt and Toad. "Who are you?" she asked softly.  
  
"I'm Kurt, and this is Toad," Kurt replied. "We're here to rescue you,"  
  
"Rescue me?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, you know, bust you out, spring you loose," said Toad.  
  
"But why do you want to rescue me?"  
  
"Cause Magneto's holding you prisoner! Hello!" Toad shouted.  
  
"My father isn't holding me prisoner," she said. "He's just keeping me here while I recover my strength,"  
  
"Your father?" asked Kurt. "Magneto's not your father!" he said.  
  
"Must be more of Mindbender's handiwork," said Wanda.  
  
Livewire heard Wanda's voice and jumped as far back as she could. "No!" she shouted. "Don't let her hurt me again!"  
  
"What is she talking about?" Kurt asked.  
  
"I had to hex her to keep her from killing Toad earlier," Wanda said. "I guess it must have really hurt her,"  
  
Kurt turned back to the mutant in the field. "Um, Livewire, just relax, ok? Nobody's going to hurt you. We just want to talk to you,"  
  
"I don't want to talk to her!" said Livewire.  
  
"Look, maybe you'd better wait outside for a minute," Kurt said to Wanda.  
  
"Alright," said Wanda. "Give a yell if you need any help,"  
  
"Will do,"  
  
Livewire spoke again. "I can't see anything past this field. Is she still out there?"  
  
"No, it's ok," said Kurt. "She's gone. I'm going to shut down this field now, alright?"  
  
"Alright,"  
  
Kurt found the controls for the force field and deactivated them. Livewire stood up and stepped down to the floor. She saw Toad and walked up to him. Toad took a step backwards, still hurting from his last encounter with her.  
  
"Wait," she said. "I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier. I didn't want to, but I had no choice. My father would have hurt me if I didn't obey me,"  
  
"He doesn't sound like a very loving father to me," said Toad.  
  
"How is he hurting you?" asked Kurt.  
  
Livewire turned around. "This collar," she said. "Somehow, it drains my energy away,"  
  
"Would you like me to help you take it off?" he offered.  
  
"I don't know if my father would like you doing that,"  
  
"Livewire, listen to me," said Kurt. "Magneto is NOT your father. Somehow, he altered your memories after he transformed you,"  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Livewire. "Of course he's my father!"  
  
Kurt was frightened to hear this. "You really believe it, don't you," he said.  
  
"Why wouldn't I believe it? It's true," she said. "Why are you telling me this,"  
  
"We don't have time for this!" said Wanda, walking back into the room. "Magneto could come up here any minute,"  
  
Livewire shrank back into the hole in the wall. "No! Make her go away!"  
  
Wanda walked up to Livewire. "Listen to me," she said. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I am NOT going to hurt you now. I just want to show you something that will help you understand what's happened to you,"  
  
She walked over to one of the computers and cued up a tape from a security camera. "Come here and look at what your 'father' did to you," she said.  
  
"It'll be alright," Kurt assured her. "Trust me,"  
  
Livewire hesitated, and then walked over to the computer. Wanda stepped back so the mutant could see.  
  
"What is happening?" she asked.  
  
"Just watch," said Wanda. Soon, the tape began to show footage of Livewire's transformation.  
  
Livewire gasped as she relived her transformation. The screen showed her being strapped to the operating table, stripped naked, and injected with chemicals. Then she saw the screen light up. When the light faded, she was no longer looking at a human being on the table but a glowing mass of energy.  
  
"It's true," Livewire said softly. She dropped to her knees and began to make sobbing noises, but no tears came out of her eyes. "Turn it off! I don't want to see any more of this,"  
  
Wanda shut off the computer.  
  
"Do you remember who you are?" ask Kurt. "Can you tell us your name?"  
  
"Yes," she said. "My name is Electra Barrows. I'm a college student from California. I was just about to graduate before I was kidnapped, and, and this happened to me,"  
  
She recounted everything else that had happened to her after her transformation.  
  
"Mein gott," said Kurt when she finished. "That monster!"  
  
"Kurt, why do you look the way you do?" Electra asked.  
  
Kurt sighed. "You're not the only one Magneto has experimented on. He did this to me when I was very young,"  
  
"Is he your father?"  
  
"I don't know. I hope not," said Kurt. "My mother rescued me from him and took me away before he could do anything else to me,"  
  
"And you're not the only one who's had her mind warped either," said Wanda. "Magneto locked me up in an asylum when I was five, and he tried to alter my memories because I wanted to kill him when I found out what he did to me,"  
  
"He's a horrible man!" said Electra. "I want to stop him from hurting anybody else,"  
  
"Join the crowd," said Toad. "Seems like Magneto's got the whole world mad at him,"  
  
"How can I help?" asked Electra.  
  
"Do you know anything about these computers?" asked Kurt. "We're trying to shut down his security system so I can use my powers. Once we do that, we can contact my friends and they can help us,"  
  
"You have friends here? Are they like you?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, sort of," said Kurt. "I live with several mutants in America. If you like, you can meet my Professor. I'm sure he'd let you live with us if you wanted,"  
  
"I'll think about that," said Electra. "But right now we need to get these computers shut down,"  
  
"Do you know which one's the right one?" asked Toad.  
  
"No, but I can find out," she said. She walked over to a power socket. "There's something else I can do that you haven't seen. I haven't tried it out yet but it should work. I'll be back in a minute,"  
  
With that, she placed her foot against the empty socket and disappeared inside of it.  
  
X 


	16. Chapter 16

"Did you see that?" asked Toad. Just then, the lights on one of the computer lit up brightly, then fade again. A second later, another computer lit up and faded. Electra seemed to be jumping from computer to computer.  
  
"Is she, inside the machine somehow?" asked Kurt.  
  
A moment later, Electra reemerged from the wall. "It's that one," she said, pointing at a particular machine.  
  
"How did you do that?" asked Wanda.  
  
"I figured that since I'm pure energy now, I should be able to travel across electrical circuits and enter machines," Electra replied.  
  
"Well, now that we know which one's the right one," said Kurt, reaching for the package Logan had given him.  
  
"Don't bother," Electra said. "I'll handle it," She raised her arms and shot electric bolts into the machine. A few moments later, it exploded.  
  
X  
  
In Magneto's chamber, an alarm began to sound. "Warning. Security measures compromised," a voice called over the intercom.  
  
Magneto looked at his monitor and saw the scene unfolding in his lab. "No!" he screamed. He hit the intercom and summoned his acolytes to the lab. Then he levitated himself off the floor and quickly soared out of his chamber and down the hall.  
  
X  
  
"Can you teleport now?" asked Toad.  
  
"Let's find out," said Kurt, grabbing Toad's wrist. A moment later, they were standing on the roof.  
  
Kurt pulled out a flare and lit it up. A few moments later, the X-Jet appeared overhead and landed on the roof. The hatch opened and the X-Men and the Brotherhood dashed out.  
  
"Kurt, are you and Toad alright?" asked Xavier.  
  
"I'm ok, but Toad needs help," Kurt replied.  
  
"Get him onto the plane. We can treat him there," said Xavier. "Where is the mutant?" he asked after Kurt got Toad strapped into the surgical bed on the plane.  
  
"She and Wanda are still in the lab. We need to get back and save her before Magneto arrives,"  
  
"Let's hurry!" said Scott. Kurt grabbed him, Rogue and Logan and teleported, while Storm and Jean flew up to the skylight above the lab. Storm blasted it apart and she and Jean floated down into the lab. Kitty took hold of Lance, Fred, and the Professor and phased them gently through the roof and down to the lab.  
  
X  
  
They emerged in the middle of a firefight. Scott, Wanda, Storm, and Electra were all firing energy bolts while Gambit and Pyro countered with exploding cards and flame jets. respectively. Jean was doing her best to deflect the damage away from her teammates while Kurt and Logan squared off with Colossus. Colossus roared and charged at Kurt. Kurt deftly jumped out of the way and Colossus' fist hit empty air. Logan roared as he jumped on his back.  
  
"Time to see what's under this big tin can!" he shouted, and tried to stab through Colossus' armor with his claws. Sparks flew as he swung his claws but he could not cut through the Russian's thick body plating.  
  
Colossus reached back and threw Logan off of his back. He shouted and tried to press his advantage, but ran into Fred.  
  
"Remember me? I'm the guy who kicked your metal butt!" he shouted. He picked Colossus up and threw him through one of the castle's thick stone walls.  
  
Lance caught sight of Gambit and clenched his fist. "You're mine, Gambit!" he shouted. He stamped his foot on the ground and the roof began to shake. Gambit looked up and saw the doorway he was standing under collapse. He dove out of the way to avoid being crushed by the falling debris. He managed to avoid being injured, but he saw that the door back to the lab was completely blocked by rubble. He swore under his breath and headed for the lab's other entrance.  
  
X  
  
Outnumbered, Pyro turned to flee. As he did, he ran right into Rogue. Rogue placed a bare hand on Pyro's cheek. "Sweet dreams," she said as Pyro's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, unconscious.  
  
"Is everybody alright?" asked Xavier. Everybody nodded that they were fine..  
  
Xavier wheeled up to Electra. "Hello, Electra. I am Professor Charles Xavier. We're here to help you," he said.  
  
"Hello, Professor," Electra replied. "Kurt's told me a little bit about you,"  
  
"Good. I can tell you more about us later. For now, we must get you out of here. Please come with us,"  
  
X  
  
Before anybody could move, there was an angry metallic humming and Magneto floated down through the hole in the ceiling. His eyes were glowing bright yellow underneath his helmet.  
  
"Erik, what have you done?" Xavier said, glaring at Magneto.  
  
"What I had to," Magneto responded. He waved his arm, and all of the mutants went flying back against the wall. He gestured again and a large force field snapped up, imprisoning them. Scott raised his hand to his visor to try and shoot through the field.  
  
"Do that and your blast will reflect back and kill all of you!" Magneto warned. Scott lowered his hand. "All of your powers are useless now," Magneto said.  
  
Electra refused to be intimidated by him. She placed her hand against the force field. The field lit up, and then Electra pushed herself through.  
  
"Livewire, daughter, what are you doing?" Magneto asked as she walked towards him angrily.  
  
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" she yelled. Her electric voice filled up the whole room. "You aren't my father! You lied to me and you turned me into a freak! And I'm going to make sure you don't hurt anybody else ever again!" She turned and walked towards his massive surgical machine.  
  
Magneto reached out to stop her. Electra put her hand on his chest, shocking him as she pushed him back. She raised her arms and shot bolts into the machine, but nothing happened.  
  
Magneto cackled. "You'll have to try harder than that," he said.  
  
"Whatever you say," she said, and walked back to the power socket and disappeared into the wall.  
  
The massive machine suddenly came alive and began to whine and shake apart. Magneto looked on helplessly as parts of it started to fall off. Suddenly it exploded in a massive fireball.  
  
"Noooo!!!" he shouted in anguish as he saw his dream of becoming all- powerful go up in flames.  
  
Debris bounced off the force field protecting the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Magneto rolled under a table as a large piece of flaming metal whizzed past his head, nearly decapitating him.  
  
The fireball filled up the room, and the force of the explosion blew out the walls of the lab. Magneto crawled out from under the table and saw the sun rising over the horizon. He looked around for Electra, but the only sign of her was her collar lying on the floor, singed and burned.  
  
"She's not dead, is she?" Kitty asked Xavier discreetly. Xavier closed his eyes, trying to sense the mutant.  
  
"Trying to find her, Charles?" asked Magneto. "Yes, she's still alive, and I know exactly where she'll go. Go ahead and try to save her. We'll see who gets to her first,"  
  
He pointed at the remnants of the floor. The floor cracked apart as a large metallic sphere floated up. The rest of Magneto's mutants returned to the lab and they all climbed inside the sphere. The sphere sealed up and took off into the morning sky. A moment later, the force field vanished, leaving the mutants alone in the wrecked lab.  
  
"Where is she?" asked Scott.  
  
"She's still alive," said Jean. "I can still sense her. I think she's moving somewhere. Through the power lines around here,"  
  
"Where's she headin' to?" asked Logan.  
  
"I think I know," said Wanda. "She'll need to absorb a lot of energy after that. There's a power plant in a city near here, and that's the only place that she'd be able to get that much power from. That's got to be where she's headed,"  
  
"Let's go," said Scott. They made their way back up to the roof and boarded the X-Jet, and they took off.  
  
X  
  
The inside of the jet was cramped but everybody managed to fit onboard. Wanda was sitting in the surgical bay with Toad as Scott performed sonic surgery to heal his wounds. A moment later Toad sat up, touching his chest. Aside from a very slight scar, he looked perfectly healthy and there were no signs of the traumatic injuries he had sustained a short time ago.  
  
He looked over at Wanda. "Hey, thanks," he said.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For keepin' me goin' when we were locked in there. I wouldn't have made it through without you. I mean it,"  
  
"You're welcome, Toad," she said. "Why didn't I trust myself?" she asked. "Why couldn't I see through those false memories they put in my head?"  
  
"Hey, you can't blame yourself," said Toad. "If you think about it, Magneto gave you the memories you were looking for so much. You having a happy life and growing up together,"  
  
"I know," said Wanda. "But that's not what happened, and I'm never going to forgive my father for what he's done. So thank you, Toad, for helping me see what's right, even though it is painful to think about,"  
  
"Sure thing. Hey, answer me somethin', will ya?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Did you mean all those things you said earlier, about needing me?"  
  
Wanda leaned down and brushed Toad's hair away from his face. "Yes, Toad, I meant it. You may be a slimy, repulsive creature, but I still like you," she said. She leaned down further and planted a kiss on his lips.  
  
Toad's eyes went as wide as tires as his heart monitor began to beep faster and faster.  
  
"Wow!" he said as Wanda pulled away. "I gotta be the luckiest frog in the world right now!"  
  
Wanda cringed, but then smiled at him and laughed. "Aww, Toad," she said, and kissed him on the cheek again before walking back up to the front of the plane.  
  
X  
  
The new lovers didn't realize they were being observed by Fred and Lance.  
  
"No way. I did NOT just see that!" said Lance. "She's gonna be chewin' on breath mints for a week after that,"  
  
"Who woulda thought?" asked Fred. "She's been tryin' to kill him since the first day she saw him, and now she's in love with him. What a world,"  
  
The jet flew on as the sun slowly climbed above the mountains, filling the sky with bright light.  
  
X 


	17. Chapter 17

Electra felt as if she was flying as she traveled along the power lines that ran across the German countryside. She had used up a large amount of her energy in destroying Magneto's machinery, and she was badly in need of a recharge. She 'looked' farther down the power lines as the driver of a car would gaze at a faraway intersection to decide which way to go. She sensed a very large source of power off in the distance, and headed straight for it.  
  
X  
  
"Where is she heading?" Gambit asked Magneto as their sphere flew across the sky.  
  
"There is only one place she could be heading to," said Magneto. "There is a small city nearby with an electrical plant. She will need to recharge herself soon. When she appears, we will be waiting for her. I will NOT let her slip through my fingers again,"  
  
He clenched his fist and the sphere flew faster, spurred on by Magneto's will.  
  
X  
  
"The sphere just increased its speed," said Scott from behind the controls of the X-Jet. "We can't keep up with it for much longer,"  
  
"If Magneto gets to Electra before we do," Jean began.  
  
"We'll just have to hope we aren't too late," said Xavier.  
  
"Why's Magneto so confident he can handle her?" Logan asked. "She trashed his place better than anything I could have done,"  
  
"He is desperate at this point," said Xavier. "He sees the girl as being crucial to him for something. Exactly what, I cannot say. We will have to determine that later,"  
  
"I think I know," said Wanda, walking up to the front of the plane.  
  
Xavier turned around to face her.  
  
"Magneto said something about Apocalypse coming back, whoever that is, and how Electra's going to help make him more powerful," she said.  
  
"Apocalypse," Xavier said softly. "That explains it. Magneto is so bent on preventing his return that he will do whatever he thinks is necessary. It seems no that there is no limit to how far he will go,"  
  
"But how exactly would she help Magneto stop Apocalypse?" asked Jean.  
  
"You saw how she took care of that machine," said Scott.  
  
"Perhaps," said Xavier. "But if my knowledge of Apocalypse is correct, not even her powers would be sufficient to stop him,"  
  
"Then why kidnap her and turn her into a mutant?" asked Jean. "Unless, no, you don't think he,"  
  
"Precisely, Jean," said Xavier. "He was using this girl as a test subject for the procedure he created. I think he was planning to do this to himself and needed her to make sure it was safe,"  
  
"Can you imagine what we might have to deal with if he had succeeded?" asked Scott. "Everything you've told us about Apocalypse makes him seem like big trouble, but if Magneto had that kind of power, he'd be unstoppable!"  
  
"Yes. We should be very fortunate that Electra destroyed his machinery before he could increase his powers," said Xavier. "But we must still be careful. Even in his current state Magneto is still a very grave threat, and one that we will have to confront very soon,"  
  
"This time, I'm going to finish what I started with him," Wanda growled. "He's going to pay for what he's done to all of us,"  
  
"Wanda, we cannot kill your father," said Xavier. "Our goal must be to apprehend him so that the authorities can deal with what he has done,"  
  
"Chuck, are you kidding?" asked Logan. "You know how many laws he's broken? Hell, he's committed crimes for things they don't even have laws against! What do you think Simons and his MAD is going to do to him? Do you think locking him up is any kind of punishment? Humans can barely keep track of their own affairs, how can they possibly hope to deal with ours? I agree with the witch, we should finish this once and for all!"  
  
"Logan, I will NOT allow it!" said Xavier sternly. "My decision is final. The proper authorities must be allowed to deal with this. Now I agree, there is very little chance that Magneto can rehabilitated, but we must pursue real justice. We cannot allow ourselves to become vigilantes. Now, I've made my decision, and you will respect that,"  
  
"I hope you know what you're doin' with this, Chuck," Logan muttered.  
  
Wanda glared at Xavier while his back was turned. We'll see about this, she thought, and then went to the back of the plane to tell the Brotherhood about what had just transpired.  
  
X  
  
"He wants us to let Magneto just get away with this?" Lance asked incredulously.  
  
"Shh!" Wanda hissed. "He'll hear you!"  
  
"How does he think the police are gonna be able to handle Magneto and the rest of his mutants?" asked Fred.  
  
"No kiddin'!" said Toad. "After what he had Electra do to me? I say we get some payback Brotherhood style, yo!"  
  
"Right on!" said Lance. "I've had enough of Xavier's high minded moralizing all the time. Apocalypse or no Apocalypse, it's time somebody taught Magneto a lesson!"  
  
"Right!" they all softly agreed, and began planning on what they would do once they landed.  
  
X  
  
Electra arrived at the power source she had been seeking. She quickly found a socket and reemerged back into the real world. She looked around to see herself standing inside a large power plant. Her sudden appearance startled several people inside the power plant. She ignored them and looked up at the object that was beckoning her: the massive generator that operated the power plant and provided electricity for most of the city. She began to walk towards it, ignoring the reactions of the plant workers. One of them dashed to a telephone and made a frantic call.  
  
X  
  
At the airport, Simons listened closely on his radio as he monitored the call from the plant. When the caller was finished, he started the car.  
  
"I think we've found what we're looking for," he told Jan. ":Some people at a power plant a few miles away from here just reported spotting some kind of mutant. They said it was heading for their generators,"  
  
"This must be some kind of attack!" said Jan. "But why would a mutant want to destroy a power generator in the middle of Germany?"  
  
"Who can really understand these people?" Simons asked, and hit the gas.  
  
X  
  
Inside the plant, Electra reached the generator. She climbed up the ladder on the side and walked across the top of it to the large pylons on top. Electricity arced back and forth between the two pylons. Not hesitating, Electra stepped in between them and felt the power course through her body.  
  
Electra's feeding began to interfere with the regular flow of power to the city. Lights began to flicker in numerous buildings all over the city.  
  
X  
  
Outside, Magneto's sphere touched down in an alley next to the power plant. Magneto and his mutants stepped out and observed the effects of Electra's feeding. Magneto scowled at being too late to stop her from refreshing her powers.  
  
"We cannot allow her to fully recharge her powers," he told his mutants. "If she does, we will not be able to control her,"  
  
He waved his hand and the doors of the plant sprung open. The mutants headed inside.  
  
X  
  
Simons picked up another call on his radio as he was driving. The call told him that the mutant was begging to drain power off of the generator, and just now several more mutants had entered the building.  
  
"They were smart not to put up any resistance," said Jan. "They might have been killed if they had,"  
  
Simons said nothing, but just pressed down harder on the gas desperately.  
  
X  
  
Back at the airport, Mesmero flinched as a voice suddenly filled his head.  
  
"Why are you still waiting here!" insisted Apocalpyse. "Magneto and Xavier are far ahead of you. Get moving now!"  
  
"But my master, I do not know,"  
  
"Silence! I shall provide you with what you were too blind to see," said Apocalypse's voice.  
  
Mesmero cringed as images came into his head, of a power plant in a nearby city, and an artifact resting on the top floor of that city's museum.  
  
"I understand, master," Mesmero said, and started up the car.  
  
X  
  
"Hey, you can't be in, waaah!"  
  
One of the plant managers had tried to stop Magneto and his group of mutants, but his protests were cut short as Colossus brushed him aside as if he were a mosquito. The mutants made their way to the center of the plant and saw Electra standing in between the generator pylons. Magneto lifted off the ground and floated up to the top of the generator.  
  
Before he could do anything, Electra stepped out of the electric field. She saw Magneto hovering in front of her, and she felt herself bristle with anger upon seeing him again.  
  
"Electra, you will come with me, now!" Magneto insisted.  
  
"Or what?" she challenged.  
  
Magneto clenched his fist. The pylons on top of the generator warped and bent down towards her. Electra dived out of the way of the flailing pieces of metal.  
  
"You expect me to help you when you can't even control me?" she taunted. She looked down to see Gambit and Colossus climbing up the generator.  
  
"No you don't," she said, and entered the generator.  
  
As Gambit was climbing up the ladder, sparks began to fly out of the generator as Electra surged through it. Suddenly a bolt of electricity leapt out of the machine and struck him in the chest. Stunned, Gambit lost his grip on the ladder and fell. He landed on top of Colossus, who was beneath him, and they both fell back down to the ground. Gambit sat up slowly, rubbing his head as he recovered his senses.  
  
Magneto scowled at his mutants as Electra emerged from the machine.  
  
"I am afraid you leave me no choice," he said. He raised his hands and the entire generator began to shake as Magneto tried to tear it loose from the ground.  
  
"That's enough!" Electra shouted, as she felt the energy inside of her swirling. She reached down inside and drew up her power, gathering it in, preparing to use her untapped abilities. "You can't understand the word 'no', so here's something you will understand!"  
  
She spread her arms and let the energy surge through her. Magneto looked at her in amazement as her aura grew brighter and brighter, to the point where it filled the entire room with blinding light.  
  
Electra released the massive surge of power she had stored up, and a great shockwave of electromagnetic energy flew out from her body. Magneto erected a force field around himself, but the power surge passed right through it and struck him, knocking him out of the air. He hit the ground hard. The massive pulse spread through the room. In its wake, machines began to short out, their circuits fried by the power of the devastating EMP that Electra had released. Simons pulled up to the front of the plant just before Electra released her pulse. He and Jan got out of the car and quickly ran up to the door of the plant. Simons opened the door just in time to see the pulse before it enveloped him  
  
X  
  
The pulse reached the walls of the plant, and it did not stop there. The pulse traveled for several miles before it dissipated, and it left a giant swath of electrical carnage in its wake. Outside, generators overloaded and exploded, starting fires and causing small buildings to collapse throughout the city.  
  
X  
  
Meanwhile, the X-Jet had just reached the outskirts of the city. Jean was monitoring the sensors to locate Electra while Xavier was probing for her mental signature.  
  
"I'm getting strong electric readings at these coordinates," said Jean.  
  
"That must be her," said Scott. "Any sign of Magneto?"  
  
Jean turned back to the sensors. "Yes. It looks like their sphere touched down here," she said, pointing to a spot on the radar map.  
  
Suddenly, alarms began to blare.  
  
"We're picking up a massive shockwave of electromagnetic energy," Jean announced. "It originated from a power plant near the center of the city,"  
  
"Taking evasive action!" shouted Scott, jerking on the controls of the X- Jet. The jet started to climb, but it was too late to avoid the shockwave. It passed through the jet with blinding speed. The jet began to shake as the helm controls shorted out.  
  
"I've lost navigation!" Scott shouted above the noise.  
  
"Scott, switch to backups!" shouted Xavier.  
  
"They're not responding! Everything's dead!" Scott shouted back. "We're losing altitude fast!"  
  
"Everybody strap in!" shouted Logan. "We're going down!"  
  
Everybody hurried to secure themselves. Xavier tried to move his wheelchair but found that it too was useless. Logan picked Xavier up and carried to the back, where he strapped himself into a seat.  
  
X 


	18. Chapter 18

In the back of the plane, the Brotherhood was starting to panic.  
  
"What's goin' on?" Toad asked, frightened.  
  
"The plane's gonna crash!" shouted Lance.  
  
Toad did the one thing he could think of: he began screaming.  
  
"AAAAAAHHHH!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"  
  
Wanda smacked him. "Get ahold of yourself!" she shouted, and went to strap herself in.  
  
"Wanda, wait!" Toad cried. "I don't wanna die without seein' your pretty face one last time!"  
  
"Not now, Toad!" she yelled back.  
  
"Man, I shoulda knew it was too good to be true!" he muttered and braced himself for the inevitable impact.  
  
The plane was now falling through the sky at a dangerous angle. At this rate, they would suffer a nose-first impact and would all be killed. Back up front, Jean strained to slow the plane's descent with her telekinetic powers. At the last moment, she managed to force the plane's nose up just enough so that they could crash-land safely.  
  
The plane hit the ground hard, belly first, and began to slide down the streets of the city. Despite being secured, the X-Men and the Brotherhood were still thrown around inside the plane.  
  
The plane skidded and rotated around as it slid, slowly losing momentum. After what seemed like an eternity, it finally came to a stop. The mutants quickly unbuckled themselves and opened the hatch manually, and saw the carnage that waited for them outside.  
  
The city looked like war zone. Windows were broken up and down the streets and several small fires were burning. Looking behind them, they saw a long trail of shredded asphalt and pavement from where the jet had skidded across the ground.  
  
"What happened?" asked Scott.  
  
"That was an electromagnetic pulse," said Xavier. "It's disrupted power throughout the city, with cataclysmic results," He had switched his wheelchair to manual control and pushed himself down the ramp of the jet.  
  
The X-Men walked out into the demolished street and headed for the power plant, hoping to find some trace of Electra. The morning skies overhead were dark with smoke, appearing as a ghastly mix of orange, black, and gray.  
  
X  
  
Simons sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "What happened?" he asked. Then he saw the destruction around him. "My god!" he shouted.  
  
Looking around, he saw Xavier and the X-Men approaching. "They must have done this somehow," he said to Jan. They got up and ran up to Xavier.  
  
"What have your people done?" Simons shouted hysterically. "This city is in ruins thanks to you!"  
  
"Agent Simons!" Xavier shouted back. "We are NOT responsible for what has happened here. We were trying to reach Electra before something like this happened to her,"  
  
"Well you're obviously too late! And how do you account for reports of mutants assaulting the workers inside that power plant?"  
  
"Agent Simons, all of my people are standing here before you right now. Magneto is responsible for all of this damage, not Electra,"  
  
"Electra! So you admit you DO know about what's become of this girl!"  
  
"We've discovered a few more things since you so cordially visited us back in Bayville, if that's what you mean," said Storm.  
  
"I find it highly unusual that you and Magneto are both trying to find this girl. If you ask me, I'd say you were working together! Why are you so eager to find her, anyway?"  
  
"Agent, there is no time to explain this to you right now. You must trust me when I say that my intentions for finding Electra and Magneto's are different. Now, please move aside so we can handle this situation,"  
  
"I'm not letting you people go anywhere!" Simons shouted. "There's no telling how much more damage you could cause!"  
  
"Agent Simons, I'm afraid I'm going to insist that we be allowed to deal with this situation. We are much more capable of handling this than you are," replied Xavier as he calmly raised his hands to his temples, preparing to reinforce his suggestion with some psychic energy.  
  
Simons saw Xavier's hands moving and pulled out his gun. He flipped the safety off and aimed right at Xavier's chest. "Put your hands down, right now!" he screamed. "I've been reading up on your profile, Xavier, and I'm not going to let some goddamn mutant go messing with my mind!"  
  
Scott saw Simons draw his weapon and instinctively reached up to trigger his advisor. Before he could take out the FBI agent, Jan had pulled out her gun and aimed it at Scott. "Stand down, kid," she said.  
  
There was a tense silence as the standoff lasted for several seconds. Finally, Xavier turned to Scott.  
  
"Cyclops, do as she says. That's an order," he said grimly.  
  
Scott glanced at Xavier and then slowly lowered his hand back down to his side.  
  
Xavier turned back to Simons and addressed him. "Agent, something has clearly happened that is disturbing your mind. You are not in your senses right now. I have known to you be a rational and trusting man. Please, do not abandon your reason to madness and go rushing into a situation that you are not prepared to deal with!"  
  
"Don't you dare say I can't handle this!" Simons snarled.  
  
"Agent Simons, what has happened to you?" asked Storm. "I thought we had proved to you that we are not a threat to society. Where has that trust gone? What has happened to turn you against us?"  
  
"Listen, lady," said Jan. "Nothing 'happened' to him. He's finally realized the thing I and a lot of other people in the government have always suspected about you people,"  
  
"That's right," said Simons. "I guess it took me longer to see the truth because I wanted to believe that you people were just like us, just like normal people. But now I see you for the threat you really are!" Now, I SUGGEST that you get back in your plane now and let the REAL authorities handle this situation!"  
  
"Bub, we ain't leavin' until we find the person we came here for!" said Logan.  
  
"That's it!" shouted Simons. "I'm placing you all under arrest," His voice sounded nervous now, and his hands were starting to tremble a bit.  
  
"On what charges?" asked Jean incredulously.  
  
"Let's see, massive destruction of public property, harboring fugitives, illegal experimentation on humans, obstructing justice, and I'm sure I'll be able to come up with several more by the time we get back to the States. Now, back to your plane. Move it!"  
  
Just then the doors of the power plant opened and Magneto and his mutants walked out. Simons turned to look at the other group of mutants that had just emerged from behind him.  
  
Logan decided to take advantage of Simons' distraction and went for his gun. Before he could reach him, though, Jan turned and fired. Logan recoiled as the bullet struck him in the chest.  
  
Simons turned at the sound and saw Logan just a few steps away from him. Instinctively, he fired. But Logan was falling to the ground, and the bullet flew over his shoulder.  
  
Xavier grunted as he felt the bullet slam into his chest. He looked down to see his hands covered in crimson blood. He coughed and slumped forward in his wheelchair.  
  
"Professor!" screamed Scott and Jean. They ran over to his side. "Get him back to the jet, now!" Scott shouted.  
  
Jean grabbed Xavier, but Xavier showed no signs of life. "I'm not getting a pulse," she said, in shock. "He's dead!"  
  
X  
  
Magneto stood in the doorway of the power plant. He had not seen Simons shoot Xavier. He only recognized the crowd of the X-Men standing across the street.  
  
"You're too late, Charles!" he shouted. "She's dead! She destroyed herself when she did all of this!"  
  
Simons and Jan whipped around. "Freeze!" Simons shouted.  
  
Magneto waved his hand casually and the FBI agents' weapons went flying out of their hands. "Ah yes, Agent Simons. A pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance," he said, floating over to the agents. "I wasn't aware the FBI had such wide jurisdiction," Then he saw the scene around Xavier.  
  
Magneto glared as he looked at Xavier's body. He felt a brief pang of sorrow at seeing his old rival lying dead in the street. Despite his antagonistic feelings for Xavier, he would have preferred not to see him killed. He walked up to Simons. "If I weren't in such a hurry now I would make you suffer greatly for killing a mutant. Consider yourself lucky. This time," he said, and walked back to his sphere. He and his mutants climbed in, and the sphere slowly floated off.  
  
X 


	19. Chapter 19

The X-Men knelt around Xavier's body, hoping against hope that he would come back to life. Several of them, especially Kitty, were crying openly.  
  
"I'm holding you responsible for any more damage he causes!" Simons shouted as he watched Magneto's sphere take off.  
  
"You murdering psychopath!" roared Scott. "I oughta blast you to pieces for what you've done!" He jumped up and swung at Simons, hitting him square in the jaw.  
  
"Get up!" he shouted. "You want to mess with mutants? I'll show you just how much of a threat we really are!"  
  
Jan started to run towards Scott to save her boss, but Logan grabbed her from behind and spun her around.  
  
"Lady, next time you shoot me, you better make sure you finish the job!" he snarled, and unsheathed his claws.  
  
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed overhead. Everybody looked up to see Storm floating in the air.  
  
"Enough!" she shouted, her voice carrying on the wind. "There will be no more killing and destruction here today! The Professor would not want you to be carrying on like this!"  
  
"Storm, the Professor is dead because of what he did!" Scott protested.  
  
"One murder cannot cancel out another," Storm replied, floating down to the ground. "This man's death will do nothing to bring Charles back to us,"  
  
"What are we going to do without him?" asked Kitty.  
  
"I don't know," said Storm. "For now, there does not seem to be much more we can do here. Electra is lost to us. It would seem best to go home,"  
  
"Wait!" shouted Jean. "She's not dead! I'm picking her up. She's nearby, but she's very weak,"  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"She's very close. Less than 10 meters away,"  
  
A few meters away, a fallen light post began to flicker with energy. A few moments later, they saw Electra emerge and collapse to the ground.  
  
"I need power!" she gasped. Her aura was incredibly faint. She was barely visible.  
  
"Scott, Kurt, go back to the jet and remove the emergency generator. It has special shielding that should have protected it from the EM pulse. Bring it here immediately," Storm said. Scott and Kurt ran back to the plane and returned a few minutes later with the generator.  
  
They set the generator down next to Electra. She reached out to it and took hold of one of the leads. The power began to flow into her body and her aura returned. A few moments later she stood up, her power levels recharged.  
  
"Thank you. Where is Professor Xavier?" she asked  
  
Scott and Kurt both looked away sadly. Then Electra saw Xavier's body.  
  
"No!" she said softly. She walked over to where he was laying and knelt down next to him.  
  
"Professor," she said softly, and reached out for his body.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Jean.  
  
"Helping," Electra replied, and placed her hand on Xavier's chest.  
  
There was a bright flash as Electra sent a surge of pure electricity into Xavier's body. Xavier's body jumped in response to Electra's human defibrillation.  
  
Jean felt his wrist. "I'm getting a pulse!" she said ecstatically. "He's alive!"  
  
The mutants celebrated wildly when Jean said this. A few moments later, Xavier coughed and sat up. Jean and Scott helped him back up into his wheelchair.  
  
"Are you alright, Professor?" Electra asked.  
  
"I will be, yes," he said faintly. "Thank you," Then he looked at Simons. "Do you still believe this girl is a threat to you?" he asked him.  
  
Simons looked down sheepishly. "Professor, I, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say,"  
  
"Then I think it would be best if you just said nothing about all of this," replied Xavier. He touched his fingers to his temples and a moment later the FBI agents were heading back to their car, their memories of what had just happened totally erased. They drove off, believing that the carnage around them had been caused by a faulty safety valve at the power plant  
  
"Scott, take the generator back to the jet," said Xavier. "We have what we came for, it's time for us to leave," Then he turned to Electra.  
  
"Our invitation is still open, if you're interested,"  
  
"Yes, of course!" said Electra.  
  
They walked back to the jet and waited while Scott got the generator back online. A few minutes later, the jet was back up and running and ready to take off.  
  
"Ok, I've got the engines restarted and navigation is back on line. We're ready for departure," Scott said.  
  
"Good, Scott. Take us aaaahh!" grunted Xavier as he was overcome by a mental vision.  
  
"Professor!" shouted Jean. "What is it?"  
  
Xavier looked up. "Mesmero! He's here!" he said. "He must be looking for the final key to release Apocalypse!"  
  
"That's not the only problem we have!" called Kurt from the back of the plane. "The Brotherhood's gone!  
  
X  
  
Mesmero grinned as he pulled his car up in front of the city's museum. This museum was the resting place for the final artifact he would need to release his master from centuries of imprisonment. As he walked inside, he did not notice the large metal sphere looming overhead, or the group of four teenagers, one girl and three boys, standing just a few blocks away from him.  
  
X  
  
As Mesmero entered the museum, Magneto's sphere floated up to the building's roof and landed. It opened and Magneto and his mutants stepped out.  
  
"Mesmero must be searching for the final key," said Magneto.  
  
"He won't get past us!" Colossus said.  
  
"Perhaps, but he has an advantage. He knows what he is looking for. We do not," Magneto warned. "We must keep our eyes open. We will spread out and search the building. And when we find Mesmero, do not hesitate to destroy him,"  
  
With that, the mutants entered the building.  
  
X  
  
"Hey, did you see that?" asked Fred, pointing towards the museum.  
  
"That's Magneto's sphere," said Lance. "Let's go!"  
  
"Hang on!" said Wanda. "Did you recognize that other mutant who went it? That's Mesmero. He's very dangerous,"  
  
"What's he do?" asked Toad. "Make you break out in bad tattoos?"  
  
"No," said Wanda. "He can posses your mind. He makes Mindbender look like a cheap circus magician. If we go in there, we'll have to be very careful,"  
  
"So what are we gonna do?" asked Fred.  
  
"We'll split up once we get inside, so we'll have a better chance of finding who we're looking for," said Wanda. "And remember, our targets are Magneto and his mutants. If you see Mesmero, keep away from him at all costs,"  
  
"Right," said Lance. "Watch out, Gambit, I'm comin' for ya!" Lance rubbed his hands together eagerly, and the mutants entered the building. Wanda and Toad took the stairs up a floor while Lance and Fred began searching the ground floor.  
  
X  
  
The X-Men were the last mutants to arrive at the museum. They floated overhead while Xavier quickly laid out the strategy.  
  
"Mesmero is likely searching for this," said Xavier, pointing at a computer screen inside the plane. "This is the Staff of T'la Beth, an ancient Chinese artifact. I believe it is an amplifier for power. With a sufficient power source, Mesmero could destroy the dimensional barrier and bring Apocalypse into our world. Electra, this may be the reason Magneto transformed you. If he gets the staff, he could have used you to release Apocalypse and then try to control him,"  
  
"So who are we trying to stop?" asked Scott. "Magneto or Mesmero,"  
  
"And what about the Brotherhood?" asked Jean. "They don't know what they're getting into in there,"  
  
"Our goal is to reach the staff before anybody else does, and if necessary, destroy it to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands," said Xavier. "Kurt, you will teleport me inside the vault where the Staff is being kept. I can resist Mesmero's mental powers long enough to defeat him,"  
  
"What if Magneto gets there first?" asked Logan. "You don't wanna be in there all by yourself, especially after what you've been through. Remember Chuck, I've got the healing powers, you don't,"  
  
"The rest of you will search the museum and intercept Magneto's forces before they can reach the vault. Scott, you, Jean, and Rogue will search the upper floors, Logan, you and Kitty will meet Kurt in the basement after he teleports me in and search the lower floors. Storm, you will monitor us from here,"  
  
"What can I do to help?" Electra asked.  
  
"It would be better if you stayed here," said Xavier. "Magneto may still wish to reclaim you. I don't want to give him that opportunity,"  
  
"Alright, Professor. Good luck," she said.  
  
"Thank you," replied Xavier. "You all understand that we must work quickly to stop Magneto and Mesmero. The Brotherhood will likely still help us, but keep in mind that they are focused on their own agenda for now. Let's move out,"  
  
Kurt grabbed onto Xavier's wheelchair and vanished. The jet landed on the roof, and the X-Men ran out and dashed into the building.  
  
X  
  
Inside, Magneto and his mutants were searching the third floor of the museum. As he examined a vase, Mindbender walked up to him.  
  
"Magneto, the X-Men are here," he said.  
  
Magneto glared. "Always the persistent one, aren't you, Charles?" he said. "Spread out!" he ordered. "Let's give our friends a good reception,"  
  
Gambit and Colossus nodded and then vanished into the museum's corridors.  
  
"Stay with me," said Magneto. "I don't want Mesmero trying to take control of me if he should find us before we find him,"  
  
Mindbender accompanied Magneto as they continued to search the third floor.  
  
X  
  
Meanwhile, Wanda and Toad were only a floor beneath Magneto. They were in the American wing of the museum. Currently, they were examining a large display on the Old West.  
  
"Where is he?" Wanda asked impatiently  
  
"Well, he's not over here, that's for sure," said Toad, prodding a mannequin of a cowboy.  
  
"Hey, snookums," said Toad. "I was thinking, when we get back, maybe you and me could go out, ya know, on a date or something'"  
  
"A date?" asked Wanda. "Is that all you can think about right now?"  
  
"Hey, I'm a man with simple priorities," Toad said. "So what do ya say? Come on, let me show you how to really have a good time. I'll take you out to that restaurant you like,"  
  
Wanda sighed. As much as she was trying to stay focused on finding Magneto, her fondness for Toad kept creeping back into her mind. She still couldn't figure out exactly what it was that made her attracted to him. He was like an old dirty blanket that she wanted to throw away but just couldn't bear to get rid of.  
  
"Alright, fine," she said. "We'll go out when we get back. But I just might make your wallet sorry you ever realized you liked me," she said with a sly grin. "And there's one condition,"  
  
"Anything, my sweet," Toad said.  
  
"Take a bath. Even the flies are starting to complain!"  
  
Toad shuddered at the thought of what she was asking to do, but it was worth it. "Alright, sweetums. For you, I'll spare no sacrifice!"  
  
"Good. Now, let's keep looking," she said, and they went back to searching the floor.  
  
A little ways down the row of the exhibits, a figure sat huddled among the other mannequins, watching the two mutants.  
  
That's right, just a little bit closer, thought Gambit, as he slowly reached for the cards in his hand.  
  
X 


	20. Chapter 20

Kurt and Xavier appeared in the vault containing the Spear of T'la Beth. The spear was resting in a glass case with numerous other artifacts that were waiting to go out on display.  
  
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you, Professor?" Kurt asked.  
  
"I'll be alright, Kurt," said Xavier. "Go and find Logan and Kitty and help them search the lower floors,"  
  
"Yes, Professor," said Kurt and teleported out again, leaving Xavier alone by himself with the spear.  
  
Xavier wheeled up beside the case and stared at the spear. It looked like just any other ancient weapon, but Xavier knew of its fatal potential and was determined not to let anybody get near it. He took a small box out of his pocket and opened it. Inside was one of Logan's custom-made explosives. Xavier affixed it to the bottom of the case and wheeled away. Then he concealed the trigger in his hand and waited.  
  
X  
  
Kurt reappeared a little ways away from Logan and Kitty. "Have you seen anything yet?" he asked Logan.  
  
"Nothing that we're looking for," he replied. "Did the Professor use that bomb I gave him?"  
  
"I think so," said Kurt.  
  
"Good," said Logan. "Rule number one: always have a backup plan,"  
  
They spread out and began to search the first floor.  
  
X  
  
In the other wing on the first floor, Lance and Fred were looking at the medieval exhibits. Lance picked up a large axe and admired it. "Cool," he said. "I could have a lot of fun with one of these,"  
  
Fred was examining several suits of armor nearby. "So what are you gonna do after we squash Magneto?" he asked Lance.  
  
"Whatever I feel like," replied Lance. "I figure with him and Pietro out of our way our lives will be a whole lot easier. We'll just have regular people to worry about,"  
  
"Yeah," said Fred. "Just the ones that hate us and think we're monsters,"  
  
"Well, if any of 'em try and mess with us," said Lance, and swung the axe in a wide circle around his head, demonstrating what he would do.  
  
"Heh heh, good one," said Fred. "And once word gets out that we took down Magneto, nobody's gonna want to try anything with us anyway," Then something caught his eye. One of the suits of armor looked different somehow. Its red and gold colors looked out of place compared to the other black pieces in the row.  
  
"Hey, Lance, take a look at this," said Fred, leaning closer.  
  
Just then, the suit of armor came to life as Colossus grabbed Fred, hoisted the huge mutant up above his head, and threw him into a large display case. The case collapsed under Fred's weight and shards of glass went flying everywhere. Fred sat dazed among the wreckage, unable to move.  
  
Colossus laughed at him. "Ha ha! Who is strongest mutant now, eh?!"  
  
Lance growled and charged at Colossus. He swung his axe but Colossus dodged the blow and the axe-head embedded itself into the floor. Colossus drove his foot through the handle, shattering it, and then punched Lance hard in the stomach. Lance was knocked back a few feet.  
  
"Ok, steely, take this!" he shouted, and used his powers. The room began to shake as bits of plaster began to fall from the ceiling, but Colossus kept his footing and charged towards Lance.  
  
X  
  
At the far end of the hall, Logan, Kurt and Kitty heard the sounds of combat.  
  
"It's Lance!" shouted Kitty, as she recognized him.  
  
"C'mon!" shouted Logan, and they dashed into the wing.  
  
X  
  
Lance barely dove out of the way, avoiding the Russian mutant's grasp. He looked around desperately for something he could use and found a large ball and chain. He struggled to lift if out of its case. He looked up to see Colossus charging again, and swung the weapon with all of his strength.  
  
The spiked ball his Colossus in the side of the head. Colossus nearly fell over, but quickly recovered.  
  
"Hah! Not even a scratch!" he gloated, and then grabbed Lance and tossed him across the room. Lance landed next to Fred and lay on the ground, the wind knocked out of him.  
  
"All to easy," Colossus gloated as Logan ran into the room.  
  
"Stick around, and we'll give ya a real challenge, bub!" he shouted, and ran towards Colossus, claws out.  
  
Metal met metal as Colossus' fist and Logan's claws collided and sent sparks flying. Kitty ran over to Lance and tried to help him up. Logan and Colossus continued to fight. Wolverine slashed at Colossus, missing and slashing through a table. He kicked the mutant in the stomach, but the only result was a loud clang.  
  
Kurt watched the two mutants fight each other. With their abilities, they were at a stalemate with Colossus unable to hit Logan while Logan was unable to inflict any damage his opponent. He decided to help out. He charged at Colossus and jumped onto his back. Colossus yelled angrily as he tried to grab Kurt, who began raining blows down on his metal head. These attacks might as well have been like mosquito bites. Finally Colossus grabbed Kurt's arm and cast him aside, then turned his attention back to Logan.  
  
Colossus picked up a table and hurled it at Logan, but he hopped out of the way and landed on a tall case. He leapt down on Colossus, knocking him over, but Colossus rolled with the impact and flipped Logan off of him. Logan hit the wall and slumped down to the floor. He groaned as he sat up.  
  
Colossus did not give his foe any time to recover. He picked Logan up by the throat, slammed him against the wall, and began to choke him.  
  
"Kurt!" Logan yelled. "You still got that package I gave you?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Then use it!" Logan gasped, his lungs starting to burn from lack of air.  
  
Kurt opened the small pouch Logan had given him back at the castle and found a small device that said "C4" on it. He ran up behind Colossus and attached the bomb to his back.  
  
"You're it!" he shouted as he pulled the pin and dove for cover.  
  
Colossus looked behind him to see what had just happened, but before he could take action the bomb exploded. When the smoke cleared, Colossus was lying face down on the floor with a large hole in the back of his armor. He was still breathing but his armor was now little more than useless scrap.  
  
Logan stood up. "Guess you're not so tough without your shell, are ya bub," he said, then walked over to Kitty.  
  
"They alright?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah," she said as Lance and Fred sat up.  
  
"Woah, what happened?" Fred asked. "Did I miss anything?"  
  
"Just a little run-in with the human sardine can over there," Kurt said.  
  
"Kitty, go back and check on the Professor," said Logan. "You two come with us. And try not to wreck any more exhibits, ok?"  
  
Lance scowled at Logan, but stood up, and he and Fred accompanied Kurt and Logan as they searched the rest of the floor.  
  
X  
  
Upstairs, Wanda and Toad were still searching the Western exhibit. They walked past a mock-up of a saloon, complete with a player piano and several cowboys sitting at a table, playing cards.  
  
"Hey, check it out!" said Toad as he examined one of the player's hands. "This guy's got 5 aces! So much for playin' by the rules!"  
  
Wanda leaned up against the exhibit's bar. As she tried to figure out where Magneto could be, she noticed one of the players reach out and touch the deck of cards on the table.  
  
"Toad, look out!" she yelled as the cards began to glow. She ran up and shoved him away from the table. Gambit jumped up from the table and dove for cover as the deck exploded, shattering the exhibit to pieces.  
  
Wanda took the brunt of the explosion and flew back across the room. She landed on the floor and felt a burning in her chest. She touched the spot and saw that her hands were covered with blood from where the explosion had ripped her chest open.  
  
Gambit walked up to her. "Time to say goodbye, cheri," he said and pulled his staff out to finish her off.  
  
Wanda looked up at Gambit standing above her as her world began to go black. The last thing she saw was Gambit's staff rushing down towards her face.  
  
X 


	21. Chapter 21

"Wanda!" Toad screamed. He darted out his tongue, wrapped around Gambit's staff and pulled it out of the mutant's grasp. He caught it and jumped in front of Gambit.  
  
"Now you're gonna get what's comin to ya!" he shouted, and began to swing the staff around wildly, mimicking moves he had once seen in a karate movie.  
  
Gambit watched as Toad whirled the staff around his head. "You should be careful with that," he said. "A weapon like that can be dangerous in the wrong hands,"  
  
"The only danger this baby's gonna cause is when I knock your teeth out with it!" Toad said, and spun the staff around over his head. "Yaaaaa!!!!" he shouted, and whipped the staff around one more time. Unfortunately, he got carried away and misjudged his swing, and he wound up hitting himself in the head with the staff instead of Gambit.  
  
Gambit chortled at Toad's antics. "Very amusing. Unfortunately, I don't have time for an encore," he said and pulled out another card. Before he could blast Toad to pieces with it, a beam of red light came flying across the room and shot the card out of his hand.  
  
Gambit looked up to see Scott and Jean standing in the doorway. "You never give up, do you?" he asked them.  
  
"Not on your life," said Scott, and prepared to fire again.  
  
Gambit drew three cards, charged them up, and hurled them towards Scott and Jean. They dove out of the way as the cards exploded.  
  
Gambit turned to make a getaway, and ran right into Rogue.  
  
"Well hello again," he said romantically. She looked just as beautiful as the first time they had met.  
  
"Remember me?" Rogue asked sweetly, and then kicked Gambit hard in the knee.  
  
"Aah!" Gambit yelled. "So, the rose has some thorns after all,"  
  
"I've got a lot more than that!" Rogue said, and pulled off her glove. Gambit caught her wrist as she reached for him and threw her across the room.  
  
"Ta ta," he said and charged up a card.  
  
"Going so soon?" Scott asked, reemerging from a side door. "The party's just getting good!"  
  
Gambit turned to throw his card at Scott, but Scott was the faster draw, and his optic blast struck Gambit in the chest and sent him flying through the air. He landed on top of a table.  
  
Before he could move, Jean used her powers to drop a large chandelier on top of him, trapping his arms and rendering him helpless. Then she used her powers again to raise Gambit up to the ceiling and left him hanging there as they ran over to Toad and Wanda.  
  
X  
  
"Help me out! She ain't breathin'!" Toad yelled desperately.  
  
Jean knelt down and felt Wanda's wrist. "She's still got a pulse, but she's been hurt very badly. We'll need to get her to a hospital immediately or she could die,"  
  
"We can't leave now," said Scott. "We haven't found Magneto yet!"  
  
"No! Don't say that!" shouted Toad. "C'mon, Wanda, come back to me!" he said, shaking her a bit.  
  
"Toad, stop it!" Jean shouted and pulled him away from her. "You'll make her injuries worse!"  
  
"The only way we could get her to a hospital in time would be to take her there in the jet," said Scott. "And if we do that we won't be able to communicate with each other in here. We can't afford to be sitting blind,"  
  
"And if we don't, she's gonna die!" Toad shouted, practically beside himself. "Now I don't care if I have to go up there and hijack your plane, Summers, I ain't gonna let Wanda die!"  
  
"Toad, if you want to stop Magneto, you're going to have to," Scott replied.  
  
"Then screw Magneto and screw all of you!" Toad yelled. He carefully picked Wanda up and began to walk towards the exit. "I don't care what I have to do, I'm not gonna let her die as long as I can do something about it!"  
  
"Toad, wait!" shouted Jean. "You can take the jet. I'll tell Storm you're coming,"  
  
"Jean, what are you doing?" Scott asked her. "We need Storm here!"  
  
"We'll manage, Scott," she replied harshly. "Go ahead, Toad. We'll be ok here,"  
  
Toad looked at Scott.  
  
"Fine, go on," he finally said.  
  
"Thanks," said Toad. "I owe ya,"  
  
X  
  
Toad made his way up to the roof. He found Storm waiting for him.  
  
"Get in," she said. "I've already contacted the hospital. We can be there in less than 10 minutes,"  
  
Toad carefully set Wanda down on the bed in the back of the jet, and they took off for the hospital.  
  
X  
  
A while later, Wanda slowly blinked her eyes. She felt very groggy as she sat up. Toad was sitting beside her bed.  
  
"What happened?" she asked.  
  
"Wanda! You're awake!" Toad beamed and wrapped his arms around her tightly.  
  
"Aack! Toad! You're choking me!" Wanda protested.  
  
"Oops, sorry cuddlebumps," said Toad, easing his grip. "I was just so worried about you! For a while the docs didn't know if you were gonna make it!"  
  
"Toad, what happened? Where's Magneto?" she asked.  
  
"You saved my life, that's what happened. Don't you remember?"  
  
"All I remember is seeing Gambit light up his cards,"  
  
"Yeah, and you pushed me out of the way just in time. You really do care about me!"  
  
Wanda grimaced as she felt the pain in her chest. "Ow! I didn't realize being a hero would hurt so much. Next time I think I'll just let you get blown up instead,"  
  
"Yeah, but if you did that how would I take you out on our date?" Toad asked sweetly.  
  
"Right," Wanda said and lay back down. "We may just have to settle for hospital food for a while. Have you heard anything from the X-Men?"  
  
"No," said Toad. "Storm left right after she dropped us off. I haven't seen her or the rest of them since,"  
  
Wanda glowered. The last thing she wanted was to be lying in a hospital bed while Magneto was still on the loose. But right now she had little choice, and resolved herself to waiting for news of what happened.  
  
X  
  
Back at the museum, Jean faced Scott. "Scott, if you have a problem with what I just did, you're going to have to get over it for now,"  
  
"Jean, you may have just compromised the mission," said Scott.  
  
"Scott, some times there are things more important than the mission," Jean retorted. "Now come on, we should probably head downstairs and try to find the others,"  
  
With that, she turned and headed for the stairs. Scott and Rogue quickly followed after her.  
  
X  
  
On the first floor of the museum, Mesmero had been busy staying out of sight. He had spent several minutes doubling back to avoid Logan and the others, and he had finally managed to shake them. He watched as they walked into a stairwell, convinced that he had gone back upstairs, then made his way over to the elevator and pressed the button.  
  
The door opened and he stepped inside. He hit the button for the basement and waited for the elevator to move.  
  
X  
  
On the top floor, Mindbender called out to Magneto. "Magneto, Mesmero is nearby. He has just entered that elevator,"  
  
"Good," replied Magneto, and stretched out his hand. There was a loud hum from the direction of the elevator shaft as the cables slowed and then reversed themselves.  
  
X  
  
Inside the elevator, Mesmero was jarred as the elevator shook and then started to move again. However, it was not moving down but rather up. He pressed the button for the basement again, but the elevator ignored him and continued to rise. It reached the top and the doors snapped open, revealing a furious Magneto.  
  
"Magneto!" Mesmero gasped, and tried to use his powers. He found that something was blocking him, and then saw Mindbender step out from behind the red-caped figure. A look of fear spread across Mesmero's face as he realized that he was powerless.  
  
"Your powers are useless, and so are you," said Magneto. "I see you're eager to see your master. Go and join him in oblivion!"  
  
There was another hum, and the elevator doors shut. Magneto released his hold on it and the elevator dropped like a rock. The elevator slammed against the sides of the shaft, sending sparks flying, and hit the bottom of the shaft with a loud crash. The force of the impact caused the elevator to collapse like a crushed soda can.  
  
Down in the basement, everybody that was with Logan jumped as they heard the crash and saw the elevator doors pop outwards from the force of the collision. They ran over to the shaft to inspect the ruined elevator.  
  
"Do you think anybody was in there?" asked Kurt.  
  
"If they were, there won't be much left of them," said Logan. He picked up one of the doors and hurled it aside. They saw the crushed car inside the shaft. As they looked closer, they saw that it was totally empty. There was no sign that Mesmero or anybody else had been inside of it.  
  
"Something's up," said Logan. "I don't like this. Everybody head to the vault, now!" he ordered.  
  
Back upstairs, Magneto glanced down the shaft. "And now to collect our prize," he said, and began to float down the shaft.  
  
X 


	22. Chapter 22

In the vault, Xavier looked up as the door begin to slide open. He clenched his fist around the trigger in his hand, ready to detonate the bomb the second Magneto stepped into the room. He knew that he would be killing himself in the process, but it was an action he was willing to take if it could delay or even prevent Apocalypse from returning to the world.  
  
To his relief, he saw the X-Men, along with Fred and Blob, walk through the door. "What has been happening?" he asked. "Where are Toad and Wanda?"  
  
"We got jumped by Iron Man upstairs," said Lance, referring to Colossus. "I heard Wanda almost got killed by Gambit, I think Storm took her and Toad to a hospital,"  
  
"That means we're cut off until she returns!" Xavier said.  
  
"I told Storm to take them, Professor," said Jean. "I'm sorry, but Wanda would have died if we just left her there. I couldn't let that happen,"  
  
"And your generosity might just wind up getting all of US killed!" shouted Logan.  
  
"Logan, relax," said Xavier. "Jean, your compassion was not misplaced. You did the right thing,"  
  
"We've called the police," said Scott. "They should be able to take Colossus and Gambit into custody once they get there. But Magneto could show up any time. What are we going to do about him?"  
  
"I want all of you to leave, right now," said Xavier. "I'm going to stay here and destroy the artifact before Magneto can get it,"  
  
"Hang on a minute!" Lance yelled. "We didn't fly halfway around the world for nothing! We aren't leaving until we get our hands on Magneto!"  
  
"You that eager to die, kid?" Logan asked him. "Cause that's what's gonna happen when Chuck destroys that spear!"  
  
"With what?" asked Fred.  
  
"With this," said Xavier, showing them the detonator in his hand. "There's a bomb underneath the case. I'm going to set it off as soon as Magneto enters this room,"  
  
The mutants immediately began to protest.  
  
"Professor, you'll be killed!" shouted Jean.  
  
"Professor, you can't do this! We need you!" added Scott.  
  
"We don't have time to argue about this!" Xavier interrupted. "Magneto MUST NOT be allowed to acquire this artifact. This is more important than me or any of you. This world will cease to be and will be replaced with one of insufferable agony and torment if Apocalypse returns. Now, I won't ask again. Everybody leave. Now!"  
  
Scott tried to argue more, but Jean touched his shoulder. "Scott, he's right. This is for the best," she said.  
  
"But it can't end like this!" Scott yelled. "There's got to be something else we can do!"  
  
"Scott, I'm sorry, but there is nothing else. This is the way it has to be," Xavier said.  
  
Jean swore she saw a tear trickle down from underneath Scott's visor. Scott walked up to Xavier, knelt down, and embraced the bald mutant.  
  
"Thank you, Professor," he said. "Thank you for everything you've done for us. Don't worry, I'll take care of everybody. Somehow, we'll move on from this,"  
  
"I know, Scott. I have faith in you," said Xavier.  
  
One by one, the rest of the X-Men said their goodbyes and then slowly turned and filed out of the room until only one remained.  
  
"You too, Logan," said Xavier.  
  
"Forget it, Chuck," said Logan. "I ain't lettin' you go down by yourself,"  
  
A small grin formed on Xavier's features. "Stubborn to the end, old friend," he said.  
  
"You better believe it. Besides, you might just need a backup to make sure that thing does its job," Logan replied, then turned to Scott and Jean, who were still standing in the doorway. "What are you waitin' for, an invitation?" he asked. "This is one fireworks show you don't want to see up close. Now get going!"  
  
Scott and Jean gave them one last grim look, and then shut the door, leaving Logan and Xavier alone in the room, waiting for the end to come.  
  
X  
  
A few minutes later, all of the X-Men were back on the roof, waiting for Storm. They saw the X-Jet come soaring across the sky and touch down on the roof of the museum. Storm opened the hatch and the mutants somberly walked up the ramp of the jet.  
  
"How're Toad and Wanda doing?" Lance asked.  
  
"I got them to the hospital in time," replied Storm. "Wanda made it through her surgery, and she'll recover soon. What is the status of the mission,"  
  
"The mission's over," said Scott. "We're leaving,"  
  
"Where are Logan and the Professor?" Storm asked, noticing the downcast looks on everybody's faces.  
  
"They're still inside," said Scott, and then walked to the back of the plane, unwilling to continue.  
  
"They stay behind to make sure Magneto doesn't get the spear," said Jean. "They're going to destroy it with a bomb,"  
  
"But they'll be killed!"  
  
"I know. They told us to leave them behind. They said that they had to keep Magneto from getting that spear at any cost,"  
  
Storm slowly realized what Jean had said. "I see," she said. She closed her eyes and said a short prayer for Logan and Xavier, and then turned back to the mutants. "Everybody get strapped in. We're leaving,"  
  
The mutants slowly filed to their seats, and the X-Jet took off from the roof. As they lifted off, they could see police leading Colossus and Gambit out of the museum in handcuffs.  
  
"At least we got some of the bad guys," said Fred.  
  
"Somehow, that's not very comforting right now," said Scott.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute," shouted Kurt. "Where's Kitty?"  
  
Everybody looked at him as they realized that there was an empty seat on board the jet that should have been occupied.  
  
X  
  
Magneto reached the vault that contained the spear. He tried the door and found it to be locked. No matter, he thought. He lifted his arms and flexed his mental muscles. The door began to strain, and with a loud hum and a crash of steel, began to slide open.  
  
X  
  
Logan gritted his teeth as he saw the door slide open and unsheathed his claws. "At least I'm gonna get one last fight before I go," he growled. Magneto drifted through the door. "Hello again, Charles. How pleasant to see you alive," he said. "Now, stand aside,"  
  
"I can't let you go any further, Eric," said Xavier, and reached for the trigger.  
  
Before Xavier could detonate the bomb, a pair of hands appeared behind him out of nowhere. They grabbed onto Magneto's cape and pulled hard. Magneto yelled as he was dragged backwards and vanished through the wall.  
  
"What the?" Logan asked in shock. A second later, he got his answer as Kitty phased through the wall.  
  
"Half, pint, what the hell are you still doing here?!" Logan asked her angrily. "You should have got out when you could!"  
  
"I'm like, saving your lives!" she yelled back. "Don't worry, Magneto's stuck in the wall. Now let's get out of here!"  
  
"Kid, you are completely crazy," said Logan. "You might just turn out alright after all. Well, Chuck, looks like death will have to wait for another day,"  
  
As they started for the exit, the wall suddenly erupted and debris went flying across the room as Magneto reappeared. "You can't stop me that easily, girl," he said to Kitty.  
  
Xavier again reached for the detonator, but Magneto saw him and waved his hand. Xavier felt his wheelchair lift off the ground as he went flying across the room. He hit the ground and fell out of his chair and lay sprawled on the floor. The detonator was jarred loose from his hand and went crawling across the floor.  
  
Logan roared and ran at Magneto. He jumped through the air, ready to slice the mutant's head off of his shoulders. Magneto waved his hands again and Logan found himself frozen in midair, Magneto's powers holding fast to his adamantium skeleton. He struggled against the mutant's grip but could not move.  
  
His threats eliminated, Magneto walked towards the case.  
  
"Stop!" Kitty shouted, and knelt down and picked up the detonator. "One more step and I'll blow it up!"  
  
"Such courage," said Magneto. "You do realize that your sacrifice would be totally in vain. My force field could completely protect me from your bomb, and you would all die for nothing,"  
  
"Kitty, what are you waiting for?" shouted Logan, still frozen.  
  
Kitty hesitated, her thumb tentatively hovering above the trigger.  
  
"You won't do it," Magneto challenged her. "Your own life is too precious to you. You are weak. None of your fellow X-Men would have hesitated as you have,"  
  
"Shut up!" Kitty shouted. "I'll do it! I'll blow us all up!"  
  
"Very noble of you, but I'm afraid you simply don't have the courage to do what needs to be done. Now why don't you just put that detonator down so nobody gets hurt?"  
  
"Don't listen to him, Kitty! Do it! Blow it up!" yelled Logan.  
  
Kitty gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and began to press the trigger.  
  
Magneto's eyes lit up as he saw Kitty's thumb touch the trigger. "No!" he shouted, just as Kitty pressed the button. Underneath the case, a counter on the bomb lit up with the number 5.0 and began to count backwards.  
  
Magneto lifted his arm and pointed at the case. Inside, the spear began to vibrate, and it lifted off its stand, crashing through the glass case and landing in Magneto's outstretched hand. A half-second later, the bomb exploded.  
  
X 


	23. Chapter 23

Storm had turned the X-Jet around to go back for Kitty. As she brought the plane in to land on the roof, there was a loud explosion and everybody saw a large pillar of flame shoot out of the roof, sending debris everywhere. The plane shook as Storm pulled up to avoid the explosion.  
  
"No!" shouted Scott, gripping the arms of his seat tightly.  
  
"I can't believe it," said Kurt, his eyes wide in shock. "He actually did it!"  
  
The jet was silent for several seconds as the reality of what had just happened set in.  
  
"What about Kitty?" Lance asked. "You don't think she was down there, do you?"  
  
"Oh my god," Jean whispered, realizing that Kitty could be dead as well.  
  
There was another long silence. "At least they got Magneto, too," Rogue said softly.  
  
Scott nodded his head. "Yeah, they did," he said, reflecting on his mentor's sacrifice. Xavier, Logan and Kitty had just paid the ultimate price to stop their archenemy.  
  
"Let's go," Storm said. "There is nothing else for us to,"  
  
"Wait!" shouted Jean. "They're still alive!"  
  
"What?" asked Rogue.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Kurt, not able to believe this latest turn of events.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure of it!" said Jean. "I can still sense all of them! I don't know how, but they all survived somehow! Storm, set us down, now!"  
  
Storm quickly found a safe spot to land on the roof, and all of the mutants dashed out of the plane and back into the building.  
  
X  
  
In the vault, Magneto breathed deeply and relaxed his tense muscles as he lowered the force field that had protected them against the exploding bomb.  
  
Kitty opened her eyes and saw the walls of the room covered in black scorch marks. A small shower of dust rained down on her face, and she looked up to see a giant hole in the ceiling that revealed the afternoon sky.  
  
"Oh my god!" she gasped. "What happened?"  
  
"I just saved your lives," said Magneto. "Despite my feelings for you, I have no wish to see you harmed. We have that much in common at least, Charles. We both want to see mutants live peacefully. A pity that our methods are so incompatible,"  
  
"And a pity that you believe you must rule over humans by fear instead of being able to live with them in harmony," Xavier responded.  
  
"They will never have anything but fear and hatred for us, Charles! Magneto retorted. "The only way for us to live among them is to control that fear. If I must bring back Apocalypse for that to happen, then so be it. Now, where is Electra?"  
  
"I will never tell you that information," said Xavier. "You may have the spear, but without Electra's powers, it's just a worthless museum piece to you,"  
  
"Don't think I don't know what you're planning, Charles," said Magneto. "I may not have your powers but I know you well enough to know that you cannot resist helping a mutant in trouble. I assure you, we shall meet again, and I will take back what is mine,"  
  
With that, he floated up through the hole in the roof and vanished into the sky above.  
  
Logan fell to the ground as Magneto's hold over him faded. He walked over to Kitty. "You should have blown him up when you had the chance," he said gruffly, then walked over to Xavier and helped him up.  
  
"I'm sorry, Professor," Kitty apologized. "I don't know why I hesitated. None of the other X-Men would have done that. Magneto's right, I am just a coward," she said glumly.  
  
"No, Kitty. Do not blame yourself," said Xavier. "What you did was very brave, and I know few people who would have done what you did if they had been in your shoes. We shall deal with whatever consequences arise from this situation together, as a team, as we always do,"  
  
Just then the rest of the mutants ran into the room.  
  
"Professor! You're alive!" shouted Kurt. There was much jostling as the mutants all ran up and embraced Xavier, Logan and Kitty.  
  
"Professor, how did you manage to survive?" asked Scott.  
  
"It seems Magneto's heart may not be completely black after all," said Xavier. "He used his powers to save us,"  
  
"Why would he do that? He's been trying to destroy us for years," said Jean.  
  
"He has his own reasons," said Xavier. "Now, I believe it is time we returned home. We have some business to attend to,"  
  
The mutants all walked out of the ruined vault and made their way back up to the roof.  
  
X  
  
Magneto floated above the museum, out of sight, and watched the police lead Gambit and Colossus outside in handcuffs. He debated trying to rescue them, but decided to leave them to their fates. Failure of that magnitude could not go unpunished, and Magneto figured that leaving them in the hands of human captors would be a just enough punishment for their failure. Besides, he still had other assets available to him. Mindbender had survived the explosion, and Magneto would likely need his services again in the future. For now, he summoned his sphere to take him back to his castle. He had somebody else to recover.  
  
X  
  
After a quick stop at the hospital to pick up Wanda and Toad, the X-Men and the Brotherhood were on their way back to America. As the X-Jet flew over the Atlantic, Electra walked up to Xavier. "Professor, I've made up my mind. I want to stay with you. I'm going to need your help coping with all of these changes," she said.  
  
"Certainly, Electra. You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you like," Xavier replied. "I promise, you will be among friends who will understand what you are going through. And I may be able to help you do more than just control your powers,"  
  
"What do you mean?" Electra asked.  
  
"I've been studying the information we recovered from Magneto's lab, and I think I may be able to reverse his procedure," said Xavier. "It is purely theoretical at this point, but if it is successful, I believe it may help you regain your humanity,"  
  
"Are you serious?" Electra asked hopefully.  
  
"I cannot make any guarantees," said Xavier. "But we can try, if you're willing,"  
  
Electra considered this for a second. Her powers still fascinated her, but she ultimately decided that she could not live like this. Her humanity was too important to her. "Yes, I'm willing, Professor. I'm willing to take the risk,"  
  
"Very well," said Xavier. "Once we get home, we can begin whenever you are ready,"  
  
X  
  
A few hours later, the mutants were back in Bayville. The Brotherhood walked off the jet and headed back for their jeep. "Hey Lance," called Scott as Lance started the vehicle. "Thanks for your help,"  
  
"Hey, don't mention it, Summers," Lance replied. "Anytime you need us to help you out of a jam, just give a call," he said cockily. Lance and Fred exchanged high fives and then drove off.  
  
"Man, he thinks he just beat Magneto all by himself," said Scott.  
  
"Oh, let him have it," said Kitty. "Sometimes it's better to just let him think he's more important than he really is. Trust me, I should know,"  
  
"And besides, without their help we wouldn't have been able to get into Magneto's castle in the first place," said Jean.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," said Scott, grudgingly admitting that the Brotherhood had been useful on this mission after all. The mutants all walked into the mansion and Xavier gathered all the residents together.  
  
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Electra Barrows," Xavier said as he introduced the Institute's newest resident.  
  
The mutants greeted Electra cordially. Several of the boys, especially Bobby, Ray, and Sam, were staring at her with eyes wide. Electra smiled at them and the three boys nearly went into conniptions.  
  
"Hey, she smiled at me!" said Bobby.  
  
"No way, she was smiling at me!" said Sam.  
  
"Uh, guys, think about it. Who's the one with the electric powers?" Ray said, pointing a thumb at his chest.  
  
Scott walked up and leaned over their shoulders. "Don't even think about it, guys. First, she's too old for you, and second, if she touched you, she'd kill you," he said.  
  
The boys looked at each other for a second and then expressed their thoughts in unison. "Cool!"  
  
X  
  
Xavier led Electra upstairs to her room. Once she had gotten settled in, he began to explain his procedure to her.  
  
"When Magneto transformed you," Xavier said, "he destroyed your body. However, I believe his procedure may have caused your DNA to become electrically embedded in your energy form. If this is the case, we should be able to restore your body,"  
  
"What about all of this energy?" Electra asked, pointing at herself.  
  
"The energy that makes up your body now would be drained away. However, since these changes to your body are now a part of your DNA, your body would still be able to produce more energy, to a limited extent," said Xavier. "And your powers should also continue to exist. The difference is that your energy would just exist as a very small part of you instead of making up your entire body. You would be very much like Storm and Berserker if it successful,"  
  
"What if it doesn't work?" Electra asked. "Will I be stuck like this forever?"  
  
"There is some risk here," said Xavier. "We are completely draining your body's energy away. Your consciousness will still exist, but without a body to contain it, it would cease to exist. I believe this can work, but our timing will be of utmost importance. I want you to understand, there is a chance that you could die if something goes wrong," he warned her.  
  
"I understand, Professor, but I want my body back. I can't live like this," Electra said.  
  
"Electra," said Xavier. "You are a very unique individual. But before you make this decision, you should know that all of the students here have been accepted for who they are, and I am certain that you would be no different. Granted, if you stayed as you are you would have a very small world for the foreseeable future, but you would have the certainty of knowing that you would be safe and you would have a community that would accept you no matter what,"  
  
"I know, Professor," said Electra. "But I'm willing to go through with this,"  
  
"Very well," said Xavier. "I will go prepare the equipment, and I will let you know when we are ready to proceed,"  
  
X 


	24. Chapter 24

"How are you feeling?" Lance asked Wanda as they drove back to the Boarding House.  
  
"Better," Wanda said. "My stomach still hurts a little, but at least I'm still alive,"  
  
"You musta been pretty lucky to survive that blast," said Fred.  
  
"No, I was lucky that I had Toad to save me," said Wanda. "If he hadn't insisted on getting me to the hospital, I would have died. He was going to carry me there if he had to,"  
  
"But I was able to talk Summers into letting us take their jet," said Toad. "Can you believe he wanted to just leave you there?"  
  
"I knew that guy was a total jerk!" said Lance as they pulled into the driveway. "See if we ever help them again,"  
  
During the whole trip back, Toad had completely forgotten about his date with Wanda. As he started to get out of the car, Wanda grabbed his arm. "Where are you heading?" she asked.  
  
"I dunno," Toad said. "Nowhere particular,"  
  
"Wrong answer," Wanda said. "How about, you're going to go take a bath?"  
  
"You nuts?" Toad asked. "I don't take baths for nobody!"  
  
"Aww, that's too bad," said Wanda. "I was looking forward to going out with you tonight. But I can't go anywhere with you if you're not presentable,"  
  
Toad's eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered their date. "Say no more, sweetums! In a few minutes your frog will turn into a handsome prince!" He hopped out of the jeep and dashed inside the house, not even waiting until he got to the bathroom before he started undressing.  
  
"Ugh. That's a sight I hope I never see again," Wanda remarked as Toad streaked towards the bathroom, and went upstairs to get ready.  
  
X  
  
A little while later, Toad walked out of his bedroom. He was wearing a powder blue leisure suit that he had found in Pietro's closet a while back.  
  
"You look ridiculous!" said Lance. "Go get some real clothes!"  
  
"Hey, this is high fashion!" Toad protested. "Wanda's gonna love this!"  
  
"I thought you said you were gonna get cleaned up," said Fred. Despite Toad's best efforts, his hair was still tangled and oily, and his teeth were still fairly yellow-looking.  
  
"Hey, this is the best I could do, alright?" Toad said as he splashed on a few drops of cologne. "Ecch! This stuff smells horrible!" he said, wrinkling his nose. A few seconds later, he returned after heading back to the bathroom to wash the cologne off.  
  
He checked his watch. "Man, what's takin' her so long, anyway?" he asked impatiently.  
  
"You know how women are," said Lance. "Remember how Boom Boom was when she was here?"  
  
"Don't remind me," said Fred. "You practically had to go over to Xavier's if you wanted to use the bathroom in the morning,"  
  
The three mutants laughed, then quickly looked upstairs as the bathroom door opened.  
  
"I'm ready!" Wanda called and stepped out.  
  
The three mutants' jaws fell through the floor as Wanda made her way down the stairs. She was wearing a red dress that swished around her knees. She was wearing her usual earrings and necklace, as well as a silver bracelet on her left wrist, and she carried a small black purse. Her makeup made her boyish face look very feminine, and the dress made her look absolutely stunning.  
  
"Wanda!" Toad gasped as he saw her. He barely recognized her as the same person from when she walked the door earlier. "You, you look." he stammered, struggling to find the right superlative.  
  
"Yes?" Wanda said, giving him a coy look.  
  
"Amazing! Stupendous! Fantastic! Glorious!" Toad exclaimed, the compliments flowing out of his mouth one right after the other.  
  
Wanda let Toad go on flattering her for a bit, then finally put a finger to his lips. "That'll do for now," she said. "You look pretty cute yourself. I had a feeling that suit would look much better on you than Pietro. And you smell good, too," she said. "Now, we'd better get going, we don't want to miss our table,"  
  
She took his arm and placed it around hers, and the two mutants walked out the door, leaving Lance and Fred behind, still trying to recover from her knockout appearance.  
  
"Wow," Lance finally managed to say.  
  
"Yeah," Fred said. "Hey, Lance, you don't think they're going to,"  
  
"No, I don't," Lance quickly interrupted, not wanting to let Fred put that picture in his head. "And neither do you,"  
  
X  
  
Outside, Wanda climbed into Lance's jeep and sat down behind the wheel.  
  
"I didn't know you could drive, babycakes," Toad said.  
  
"Toad, there's a lot of things you don't know about me," Wanda replied. She gunned the engine, let out a wild whoop and drove off in a cloud of dust.  
  
X  
  
Sabertooth opened the door of the fridge in his small, dirty apartment. He had been hiding out the last few days to avoid the police, and he had managed to avoid being caught so far. He pulled a beer out of the fridge and shut the door. He opened the bottle with his teeth and took a big gulp of the beer, and wondered how much longer he would be able to stay here until the police got wise to his whereabouts. He had not heard from Magneto or Gambit since he left the airport, and had had little to do since then. He had been hoping to have another battle with Logan but he had not been able to find him. Without their constant struggle, his life seemed very empty.  
  
As he lay on the bed struggling against boredom, his cell phone rang. He picked it up and listened as a familiar voice began speaking.  
  
"Right," said Sabertooth. "I'll meet you on the roof in a few minutes,"  
  
He turned off the phone, finished off his beer, and walked out of the room. He opened the door to the stairwell and walked up to the top floor of the building, and let himself up onto the roof. A few minutes later, a large silver sphere appeared and floated down to the roof. The sphere opened to reveal Magneto and Pietro standing inside.  
  
"Come," Magneto beckoned. "We have unfinished business,"  
  
Sabertooth growled and stepped inside the sphere. The sphere lifted off the roof and took off across the sky.  
  
X  
  
Wanda and Toad were sitting on the patio of an outdoor café, enjoying their dinner. So far Wanda was enjoying herself. The food at the restaurant was superb, and Wanda was glad to finally have some company to enjoy the evening with.  
  
"So do you think Xavier will be able to help Electra?" Toad asked.  
  
"I hope so," said Wanda. "She's been through a lot. She's had her life stolen from her in just a few days. And I thought I had a rough time. But, yeah, I think that Xavier will be able to help her, one way or another. I just have a feeling we haven't seen the last of my father,"  
  
"I don't know about you, snookums, but I'd be perfectly happy never seeing him again,"  
  
A waiter approached the table, carrying their dinner. Toad and Wanda picked up their glasses and tapped them together. "Cheers," said Toad, and they started on their dinner.  
  
Suddenly, Toad's eyes caught sight of a fly as it landed on the table. He licked his lips, but then saw Wanda roll her eyes.  
  
Not again, she thought.  
  
Toad remembered how much Wanda hated his fly-eating habits and resisted the urge to shoot his tongue out. He waved his hand and shooed the bug away instead.  
  
Wanda smiled. "I don't believe what I just saw. Toad turning down bugs for real food,"  
  
"I'm workin' on my self-control," said Toad. "Besides, bein' here with you's better than chewin' on bugs any day,"  
  
"Glad to hear your tastes are improving," Wanda replied, and they continued eating.  
  
On the other side of the porch, a man was playing a violin. Toad and Wanda listened for a bit, and then Wanda stood up.  
  
"Hey, wanna dance?" she asked.  
  
"Uh, I really can't dance," Toad said nervously.  
  
"That's ok, I can't either. C'mon, it'll be fun," Wanda said, and pulled him out of his seat. They began dancing slowly to the violin's tune.  
  
"I feel silly. Everybody's lookin' at us funny," said Toad.  
  
"Relax, that's the point. Besides, it's just your suit," Wanda snickered.  
  
"Where'd Pietro get his taste in clothes, anyway?" asked Toad. "You must have got your dad's fashion sense, baby,"  
  
"So that's where my taste for goth came from," said Wanda.  
  
As they continued to dance, Toad slowly found himself getting the hand of dancing, and was stumbling a bit less. The music reached its end, and Toad and Wanda drew close. Wanda leaned close to Toad. "Thanks for tonight," she said, and tilted her head to the side. Toad did the likewise and leaned up to kiss Wanda.  
  
Just as their lips touched, a large shadow passed overhead. "What was that?" asked Wanda.  
  
"Hey, lookit that!" Toad said, pointing to the metal sphere as it flew past.  
  
"Magneto!" Wanda growled. "He never gives up!"  
  
"I think he's headed for Xavier's place!" Toad said.  
  
"He must be after Electra again. Come on!" Wanda said. Toad quickly dropped some money on the table to cover the bill and they ran back to Lance's jeep. Wanda started the engine and they took off towards the Institute as fast as they could go.  
  
X 


	25. Chapter 25

Todd and Wanda were not the only mutants enjoying a night out that evening. Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue had gone out to the movies, and Kurt had convinced Amanda to sneak out from her parents' house and join them. Currently, Kurt and Amanda were snuggling in one of the theatres in Bayville's new 40- screen mega-cinema while Kitty and Rogue kept a running commentary of their every move and kiss and occasionally chucked popcorn at the two lovebirds.  
  
Meanwhile, back in the mansion, Xavier was explaining his restorative procedure to Electra. Scott, Jean, and Storm were also in the lab while Logan was in the garage, giving his bike a tune-up.  
  
"Again, I cannot guarantee that this procedure will completely restore you to your prior state," Xavier said. "Magneto's original procedure activated your dormant X-genes. There is no way to reverse that,"  
  
"Does that mean I'll still have these powers?" Electra asked.  
  
"Yes," Xavier replied. "Although we won't know how much of your powers you have retained until after we are finished. But we can help you control them after the procedure is over, no matter how much or how little of your powers remain,"  
  
Electra nodded and walked into the chamber. As it closed up, Scott could not help notice the nervous look on Xavier's face.  
  
After the chamber closed, Scott approached Xavier. "Professor, are you sure this is going to work?" he asked.  
  
Xavier sighed. "No, I'm not," he said. "There are so many variables, so many things that could go wrong. One mistake, and Electra could die,"  
  
"Are you sure we should let her go through with this?" Jean asked him. "She could still live a perfectly healthy life as she is,"  
  
"I know, Jean, but it is her decision, and she has accepted the risks. She is trusting us not to let her down," Xavier said. "Now, we must begin,"  
  
He wheeled over to the control panel and activated the intercom inside Electra's chamber. "Electra, we are going to begin now. The first part of the procedure will drain away your energy until there is just a small fraction left. Then, we will re-sequence the DNA that has been electrically embedded inside of you to rebuild your body. Once this part begins, we cannot safely stop until it is complete,"  
  
"I'm ready, Professor," Electra replied from inside the chamber.  
  
"Initiating power drain," said Xavier as he activated the machines.  
  
Inside the chamber, Electra flinched as arcs of energy began leaping through the chamber, coursing through her body. She felt her energy begin to drain away and saw that her aura was glowing dim. She braced herself and waited as the procedure continued.  
  
X  
  
Magneto's sphere landed in a secluded corner of the Institute's grounds. It opened and Pietro dashed out. After a few moments of searching, he found what he was looking for: a large generator, well concealed behind a large cluster of bushes. He cackled and threw the switch on the generator, disabling it, then dashed back to the sphere. The sphere lifted off again and headed for the main entrance of the Institute.  
  
X  
  
In the den, the younger mutants were watching TV when the lights began to flicker and the TV reception turned into static. All of a sudden, the whole room went dark, and then turned a dim red as the emergency lights came on.  
  
"Hey, what happened?" asked Roberto.  
  
"Ray, stop messing around already! This is the good part!" complained Amara.  
  
"Hey, it wasn't me!" Ray said. "Maybe a fuse blew or something,"  
  
Suddenly the front doors crashed open as Magneto, Pietro, and Sabertooth walked in. In the dim light, they looked almost like ghosts.  
  
"Is that Magneto?" Amara asked Bobby. Xavier had briefed all of them about their rival, but except for Bobby, none of them had seen him in person.  
  
"Yeah, that's him," Bobby said.  
  
"Hope we aren't interrupting anything," said Pietro smugly.  
  
The mutants stood up, and Bobby stepped out in front of them. "What do you want?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"I've come to collect somebody that is mine," said Magneto. "Stand aside, and none of you will be harmed,"  
  
"Bobby, what are we gonna do?" asked Rahne anxiously.  
  
"I'll tell you what we're gonna do," Bobby said to her and then turned back to Magneto.  
  
"We know why you're here," he said angrily. "And if you think you're gonna walk into our house and take Electra without a fight, you're dead wrong!"  
  
"As you wish," said Magneto, and clenched his fist. With a loud hum, every metal object in the room flew into the air and began to hurl themselves at the mutants as Sabertooth and Pietro rushed in to attack.  
  
Ray began using his powers to shoot down the flying objects, but he did not see one chair fly up from behind him and strike him in the back of the head, knocking him out. As Rahne ran up to check on him, she found herself swept off her feet by a lamp that had tipped over and rolled into her legs. The lamp cord began to wrap around her body, leaving her completely hogtied.  
  
Meanwhile, Bobby had his hands full with Sabertooth. He dodged the mutant's blows and tried to freeze him, but Sabertooth smashed through the ice wall and kept coming. Bobby created an ice slide and slid on it across the room. Sabertooth snarled as his quarry landed safely on the other side of the den. "You can't run forever, runt!" he yelled and took off after Bobby again.  
  
X  
  
In the garage, Logan revved the engine on his bike as he worked on it. Over the din, he could not hear the battle raging inside the Institute. He also had a portable floodlight switched on so he could see inside the bike's machinery, and had not noticed when the power went out. He hummed as he continued to work, oblivious to things inside.  
  
X  
  
Meanwhile, down in the lab, security alarms began to blare. Xavier turned on the security camera and saw the battle going on upstairs.  
  
"Magneto!" he shouted. "Scott, Jean, get upstairs now!"  
  
Scott and Jean did not ask what was going on but immediately dashed out of the room. Once they got to the elevator, they found that it was not functioning due to the power loss.  
  
"He must have cut the power somehow," said Jean.  
  
"Then we'll have to take the stairs," said Scott, and they ran towards the staircase.  
  
X  
  
Back in the den, Amara shot a ball of magma at Magneto. At the last second, Magneto raised a force field, and the magma ball exploded, showering the den in flaming debris. Bobby used his powers to put out the fires, and then pulled Amara out of the way as Sabertooth picked up the couch and hurled it at her.  
  
Sam and Roberto had been trying to slow down Pietro, but the speedy mutant had dodged every attack that they had thrown at him. "Man, you're makin' this too easy!" he gloated. "I could outrun you two in my sleep!" Roberto lunged at him again, having to resort to hand to hand combat since his powers were useless without sunlight. Pietro zipped out of the way before the mutant could strike him. "Nope, still too slow!"  
  
"You're startin' to tick me off!" Sam growled. "Bobby, gimme a hand!"  
  
Across the room, Bobby obliged and fired an ice beam at Pietro's feet. Pietro jumped over it easily, but underestimated the effects of Bobby's powers. The floor under his feet was now completely covered in ice, making it impossible for Pietro to get any traction. Every time he tried to run, he slipped and fell.  
  
"Now you're mine!" Sam shouted and rocketed through the air. Pietro staggered to his feet just in time to see Sam flying towards him. Pietro could do nothing but scream as the mutant missile struck him head on.  
  
Sam grabbed onto Pietro as he hit him and flew out the front door. Once he was over the fountain, he let Pietro go. Pietro screamed as he fell and landed in the middle of the fountain, sending waves of water flying across the lawn.. As he landed, he felt something very hard strike him in the back, and then felt massive pain in his chest as the breath was driven out of his lungs. He lifted his head above the water in the fountain and saw that one of the small angel statues was now sticking out of his stomach. His eyes went wide as he saw his own blood covering the tiny angel's wings. He tried to scream, but his voice only came out as a faint whisper as his blood began to froth around his lips.  
  
Back inside, Magneto had seen Pietro fall and land in the fountain. He and Sabertooth dashed outside to help his son  
  
X  
  
"Where'd Magneto go?" asked Sam as he zoomed back into the room.  
  
"We chased him off!" Amara said triumphantly.  
  
"Not yet we haven't" said Bobby. "C'mon, we need some backup," With that, he dashed out to the garage to get Logan.  
  
X  
  
Out in the garage, Logan looked up from his bike as he saw the door open and Bobby, Amara, and Sam rushed in. "What do you want?" he asked.  
  
"We're under attack!" Amara said frantically.  
  
"Kid, I don't have time for games tonight," said Logan gruffly.  
  
"No, Magneto's here!" said Bobby.  
  
"What?" asked Logan, dropping his wrench on the floor with a loud clang. "Why didn't any of the alarms go off?"  
  
"They cut the power before they attacked. The whole mansion's on emergency power right now," Bobby explained.  
  
Just then, one of the walls of the garage slid back and Scott and Jean ran out from the staircase.  
  
"Logan, Magneto's here!" said Scott.  
  
"That's what they just told me," Logan replied. "How are things going downstairs?"  
  
"We've still got power, for now," Jean said. "But Magneto must be trying to get Electra again,"  
  
"Alright," Logan said to Bobby and the other younger mutants. "You wait here. We'll take care of this,"  
  
"Hey, wait a minute, we were kickin' his butt a minute ago!" said Sam.  
  
"I said stay here!" Logan said, and he, Scott and Jean ran out of the garage.  
  
"What are we, worthless or something?" asked Amara after they had left.  
  
"Yeah, always treating us like we're kids all the time," Sam grumbled. "Now they're gonna go have all the fun while we're stuck here with Logan's stupid bike,"  
  
"Hey, enough!" said Bobby. "I don't care what Logan said. This is our home too, and we need to defend it. Who's with me?"  
  
"Yeah!" shouted Amara and Sam simultaneously, and the three mutants ran out after Logan and the others.  
  
X  
  
Outside, Magneto gasped in horror as he saw Pietro lying in the fountain, the bloody angel statue sticking through his chest.  
  
"Pietro! No!" Magneto shouted as he kneeled down next to his son.  
  
Pietro looked up at his father weakly and coughed, sending drops of blood flying out of his mouth. "Father!" he gasped. "Please, it hurts!" He reached out and grabbed hold of Magneto's cloak, desperately trying to cling to life.  
  
"Father, I'm. I'm sorry," Pietro croaked as he saw the world beginning to go dark. "I. I tried to be a good mut. mut.ahhh," His last breath rushed out of his body as the last thing he saw was the tears starting to run down Magneto's face. Pietro's eyes rolled back in his head and he sunk beneath the water, dead.  
  
X  
  
Magneto took off his helmet and wiped a tear out of his eye.  
  
"Pietro," he whispered, placing a hand on the boy's chest. He lifted Pietro's head out of the foutain and held the boy in his arms. His face was a twisted mask of sadness and rage as he pressed Pietro's head to his chest. When he looked up, his eyes were red with tears and a fierce look was on his face.  
  
"My son, I swear to you, they will not go unpunished for what they have done to you! You shall be avenged, even if I have to kill every mutant in that house to do it!"  
  
He kissed Pietro gently on the cheek and then let his body gently fall back beneath the fountain's waters. He placed his helmet back on his head and turned to Sabertooth. "Follow me," he growled, and his eyes glowed bright yellow. "If anybody stands in our way, kill them!" The two mutants stood up and walked back towards the Institute.  
  
X 


	26. Chapter 26

Jamie had been sitting in his room, reading, when the lights first went out. He sat up from his bed and walked out into the hall.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked aloud, seeing the dimly lit hall. He explored the halls upstairs but found them deserted. After a few minutes, he came to the staircase that led downstairs.  
  
"Bobby, Ray? Where is everybody?" he wondered, and came down into the den just as Magneto and Sabertooth walked back through the door.  
  
"Oh no!" Jamie gasped and ducked back into the shadows. "Don't let them find me, don't let them find me, don't let them find me!" he whispered softly. Magneto and Sabertooth came very close to where Jamie was hiding and paused as Sabertooth sniffed the air. Jamie began to tremble as the two mutants towered over him, looking around.  
  
After a tense minute, Magneto and Sabertooth turned and walked off. Jamie breathed a sigh of relief, and then heard Sabertooth speak.  
  
"Where is this lab?" he asked Magneto.  
  
"It's downstairs. And remember, be careful. We still haven't found Wolverine or any of the others,"  
  
"I hope we do find them," said Sabertooth. "I'm going to kill them very, very slowly. I think your son would have enjoyed that,"  
  
Jamie gasped as he heard Sabertooth talk and realized that they were heading to find Electra. Thinking that Xavier was all by himself, he swallowed nervously and jumped up, preparing to be a hero.  
  
"Hey!" he shouted. "You forgot about us!"  
  
Magneto and Sabertooth whirled around to see five identical mutants standing in front of them. "Very brave, boy, but you're no match for us," said Magneto.  
  
Ignoring him, the Jamies cried out loudly and rushed at Sabertooth, swarming over the mutant and knocking him to his knees. Sabertooth flailed madly as he tried to shake the Jamies off of him while Magneto stepped back to watch how his associate handled this new challenge.  
  
"You're not gonna hurt anybody else tonight!" Jamie shouted bravely as Sabertooth snarled. Sabertooth grabbed onto one of the Jamies that was clinging to his shoulder and dashed him against the wall. He was expecting to see the boy's brains spread across the floor but instead saw the body fade out of existence.  
  
"Wrong me!" laughed one of the Jamies clinging to Sabertooth's back, and began to pound on Sabertooth's head. Unfortunately, Jamie's laughter gave him away, and Sabertooth immediately grabbed the real boy and slammed him to the floor. Jamie groaned and his other duplicates faded away.  
  
"Such a foolish boy," said Magneto. "Kill him,"  
  
"Gladly," Sabertooth said, and picked Jamie up by his neck and began to squeeze tightly.  
  
Jamie kicked his legs, trying to break out of Sabertooth's grip, but his struggles were to no avail. His face turned purple and his eyes began to bulge in their sockets as Sabertooth slowly choked the life out of him.  
  
Suddenly, a flash of red light lit up the room as Scott appeared in the doorway of the den and fired an optic blast at Sabertooth. The blast hit Sabertooth squarely in the back, and the mutant screamed and dropped Jamie to the ground. Jamie gasped for breath and clutched at his bruised throat.  
  
"Why don't ya pick on someone your own size, bub?" Logan snarled and dashed at Sabertooth, claws extended. Sabertooth snarled, then turned and dashed out the door. Logan growled and chased after him, leaving Magneto alone with Scott and Jean.  
  
X  
  
Logan ran outside and looked around for Sabertooth, but could not see his foe.  
  
"Where are ya?" he shouted, challenging Sabertooth to come out and fight. He heard a rush of air from above and looked up to see Sabertooth jump off the balcony above. Sabertooth landed on top of Logan and knocked him to the ground.  
  
"And now we end this!" Sabertooth sneered. Logan rolled to his feet and ran towards his rival as the two mutants locked claws one more time.  
  
X  
  
Inside, Scott aimed at Magneto, but before he could fire, Magneto pointed at Scott and used his powers to pull Scott's visor off of his face. Scott instinctively covered his eyes to avoid releasing the full force of his powers. Magneto clenched his fist around the visor, snapping it in half, then advanced on the two mutants.  
  
X  
  
Logan ducked underneath Sabertooth's first swing and kicked his opponent in the ribs. Sabertooth barely flinched at Logan's blow and kicked back, hitting Logan and knocking him to his knees.  
  
Logan quickly recovered and charged at Sabertooth, tackling him and knocking him to the ground. He slugged Sabertooth in the face several times, and then Sabertooth flipped Logan off of him.  
  
Now Sabertooth went on the offensive. He swung at Logan, cutting into his chest with his claws and drawing blood. He picked Logan up and threw him through the air. Logan landed against the wooden railing on the porch, cracking it.  
  
Logan got up and unsheathed his own claws. He slashed out at Sabertooth, cutting the mutant across the arm. Sabertooth touched the blood coming from the wound and grinned sadistically.  
  
X  
  
"Jean, help!" Scott shouted.  
  
"5 yards in front of you, 2 degrees up!" Jean called back, acting as a guide.  
  
Scott pointed his head where Jean had told him and opened his eyes, releasing a massive blast of optic energy. The blast hit Magneto and threw him across the den. Magneto staggered to his feet and floated backwards and out the door.  
  
X  
  
Bobby, Sam and Amara dashed into the den, and found Scott and Jean by themselves. "Where's Logan?" asked Bobby.  
  
"Bobby, is that you?" Scott asked blindly. "We told you to stay back!"  
  
"Hey, this is our house too!" shouted Amara.  
  
"Enough!" said Jean, stepping in quickly. "Magneto's still out there!"  
  
"Let's go!" said Sam.  
  
"Wait!" shouted Scott. "It's too dangerous! Go down to the lab and protect the Professor. Magneto's trying to take Electra,"  
  
"What about you?" asked Bobby.  
  
"We'll be fine. Just go!" Scott insisted.  
  
Bobby and the others nodded and dashed out of the room.  
  
X  
  
Back on the lawn, Logan and Sabertooth continued their duel while Magneto hovered silently overhead, watching the two mutant gladiators fight it out.  
  
Logan slashed out again but Sabertooth parried the blow and kicked Logan in the gut. He raised his leg to stomp down on Logan, but Logan rolled out of the way and Sabertooth's foot shattered the cement steps to pieces.  
  
Logan got up and kicked Sabertooth in the back, doubling the mutant over, and then jumped on his back and raised his claws to strike at the mutant's head.  
  
Sabertooth leaned forward at the last second, and the blow that would have taken his head off instead found only empty air. Sabertooth threw Logan off of him to the ground and kicked him for good measure to keep him down for a bit.  
  
Sabertooth walked over to the entrance and picked up one of the doors. Logan got up and charged at him again but Sabertooth swung the door and connected, sending Logan flying across the porch and down the stairs. Logan sat dazed as Sabertooth walked over to him and held the door over his head, ready to crush him.  
  
"So long, Wolverine!" Sabertooth shouted, and lifted the door to strike, but Scott fired an optic blast from inside with Jean's guidance and blasted the door out of his hands. As Sabertooth looked around, puzzled, Logan rolled to his feet and jumped, did a handspring and kicked Sabertooth hard in the face with both feet. The blow sent Sabertooth flying backwards. Logan jumped on top of Sabertooth.  
  
"You can push me pretty far, bub, but when you come into our home, that's the last straw!" With a savage roar, he drove his claws through Sabertooth's throat.  
  
Sabertooth's eyes went wide as his breath was sucked out of him and blood began to flow from his throat. He clutched desperately at his throat to staunch the flow of blood, but to no avail. Finally, realizing that his death was at hand, he looked at Logan and gasped, "Victory. is yours," and then closed his eyes.  
  
X  
  
Logan let out a bloodcurdling scream as he stood looking down upon his vanquished foe, and then heard the sound of clapping. He looked up to see Magneto descending to the ground.  
  
"Congratulations on finally defeating my worthless lackey," Magneto said, gesturing at the fallen Sabertooth as he landed. "Such a noble victory. Too bad nobody will be survive to sing songs of it,"  
  
"Don't think killin' one lowlife is enough for me tonight, bub," said Logan, blood still dripping from his claws.  
  
"I'm afraid I won't be able to satisfy your bloodlust any time soon," Magneto said, and pointed at Logan's claws. Logan screamed in agony as his claws were pulled out of his hands, tearing through his knuckles at Magneto's beckoning.  
  
"Such beautiful things," said Magneto as the adamantium claws slowly rotated around his head, forming a metallic halo. "You really do make it too easy, you know," he said, and used his powers to grab Logan's adamantium skeleton and pin him to the ground. Before Logan could get up, Magneto used his powers to hurl 5 of the claws at him like lawn darts. Logan grimaced and yelled in pain as his own claws stuck into his chest.  
  
Magneto walked up to Logan. "For my son!" he said viciously, and drove the last claw through Logan's throat. Then he turned and walked back into the mansion, leaving Logan staked to the ground, lifeless.  
  
X 


	27. Chapter 27

"Hang on!" Wanda shouted as she crashed Lance's jeep through the Institute's front gate. Toad shouted as the metal bars went flying and the jeep lurched heavily and skidded to a stop.  
  
"Do me a favor, never do that again!" he begged, and they got out of the vehicle. They gasped as they saw the carnage unfolded on the lawn.  
  
Wanda saw Logan lying motionless on the ground, his own claws stuck in his body like a mutant voodoo doll.  
  
"My god," she muttered. Suddenly, Logan abruptly raised one of his arms and pulled the adamantium claw out of his throat. Blood began to flow from the re-opened wound and Logan struggled to breathe.  
  
Wanda ran up to Logan and knelt down next to him. "Don't move, you'll make the bleeding worse. Tell us what happened," Wanda said urgently.  
  
"Magneto," Logan gasped as his healing powers began to take effect, and the stream of blood flowing from his throat slowed to a small trickle and then disappeared altogetherl. "He came to get Electra,"  
  
"I knew it!" she growled. "He's never going to stop until he gets his hands on her,"  
  
"I'll be fine in a while," said Logan. "You gotta get in there and stop him!"  
  
"Right," said Wanda. "Toad! Come on!" she called to him, but got no response. She turned to see Toad standing by the fountain, his face pale.  
  
"Toad, what are you waiting for?" she insisted, and then looked down at what Toad was pointing at.  
  
"Pietro," she said softly as she looked at her dead brother. She closed her eyes and dropped her forehead. Toad saw a solitary tear trickle down her right cheek.  
  
"Wanda, I, I'm sorry," said Toad, putting his arm on her shoulder.  
  
"Don't be," she whispered coldly and brushed the tear off of her face. "He got what was coming to him," She turned away and walked towards the mansion without giving Pietro's body a second glance. Toad took one last look at him and followed Wanda inside.  
  
X  
  
Inside, they found Scott and Jean lying unconscious on the floor. Scott's visor was missing from his face. Jean groaned and slowly sat up.  
  
"What happened?" asked Wanda, helping Jean up.  
  
"Magneto," she said. "He was too much for us,"  
  
"Where did he go?" asked Toad.  
  
"He's heading for the lab. Take the elevator at the end of the hall," she said, gesturing in that direction.  
  
"We'll make sure he doesn't get Electra," said Toad, and the two mutants ran off again.  
  
X  
  
Down in the lab, Xavier looked up as Bobby, Sam and Amara ran in. "Report!" Xavier insisted.  
  
"Magneto's here," said Bobby. "We held him off for a little bit, but he was too much for us. Scott, Jean, and Logan are still upstairs,"  
  
Xavier kneaded his forehead in concern. He had seen all that had unfolded upstairs on the security monitors, and knew that he was in trouble. He had contacted Kurt, Rogue and Kitty, but he knew that he could not expect them to arrive in time to help, even if Kurt used his powers to teleport them all to the Institute.  
  
"Professor, what are we going to do now?" asked Sam. "Magneto's still coming!"  
  
"You've done the best you could," Xavier told them. "We'll have to hope that Electra's transformation finishes before he arrives. If he does, he will have no use for her,"  
  
"How much longer is it going to take?" asked Bobby.  
  
"We've just begun to rebuild her body," said Xavier. "If we are not interrupted, we should be finished in time. Come, you can watch how she is progressing," he said, indicating to his control monitor.  
  
Bobby, Sam and Amara walked up to the control monitor and looked at the numerous displays. They saw that Electra's skeletal system had been rebuilt and that the reconstruction of her vital organs was just underway.  
  
X  
  
Inside the chamber, Electra had been completely oblivious to the events transpiring outside the lab. All of her energy had been drained away, leaving her as pure consciousness. She could not see, hear, feel, or smell anything, but she was still aware of her own existence and lay in the chamber, wondering at the miracle that was rebuilding her body. Already, she could sense her bones as they were restored, and felt lungs and a heart begin to form in her chest. As the blood vessels of her circulatory system rebuilt themselves, she felt her heart begin to pump real blood throughout her reforming body, and felt a rush of air enter and leave her lungs. Something began to tickle her face, and she realized that she once again had human eyes and could see the world as it really was. She looked around the chamber and gazed down at her body as best as she could, and saw muscles and skin reappearing around her stomach and chest.  
  
Almost there, she thought to herself in her restored brain. Just a little bit further.  
  
X  
  
Magneto floated through the mansion unimpeded and arrived at the elevator shaft that led down to the basement. The elevator was locked down, but Magneto did not stop. He used his powers to force open the doors and drop the elevator all the way down the shaft, where it came to a rest on the bottom as he gently set it down. Then he stepped into the shaft and floated down to the bottom, landing on top of the elevator. He pulled off the roof panel and lowered himself into the car, then opened the doors again and stepped out into the hall and began to walk towards the lab.  
  
X  
  
"Professor, Magneto is almost here!" Storm called from the security console.  
  
"Just another minute!" Xavier called back, his eyes locked intently on the control monitor.  
  
"Everybody get ready," Bobby called to Sam and Amara, and they positioned themselves by the door and waited for their enemy to appear again.  
  
X  
  
Wanda and Toad reached the shaft and found that the car was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Now what?" asked Toad.  
  
"We climb down," said Wanda. "Be careful,"  
  
She jumped into the shaft, grabbed onto one of the cables, and began to shimmy down it.  
  
"Oh man! Why couldn't Pietro have trained us to do this?!" Toad complained, but followed Wanda's lead. After several tense minutes of climbing, they made it to the bottom.  
  
X  
  
Magneto stopped outside the lab and stared at the massive door in front of him.  
  
"One more delay, as always, Charles," he muttered, and reached out with his powers. He strained against the heavy metal door as he tried to pry it open.  
  
X  
  
Inside the lab, sparks began to fly from the lights and alarms began to blare.  
  
"Professor, something's wrong!" Storm shouted. "Magneto's powers are overloading our generators! We have to stop the procedure!"  
  
"We can't, Storm!" Xavier shouted over the noise. "She'll die if we do!"  
  
Inside her chamber, Electra saw the bolts of electricity change color and felt pain as they struck her again and again. She screamed in agony and felt a familiar rush of power inside her just-reformed body. She looked at her hands and to her horror saw that they were beginning to glow bright blue once again.  
  
"No!" she shrieked. "Not again!" She began to pound on the sides of the chamber with her reformed hands as her entire body began to glow.  
  
X  
  
"Here he comes!" shouted Sam as the doors of the lab opened up, revealing Magneto. Not waiting for him to attack, Sam launched himself into the air. Magneto used his powers to alter the boy's course and Sam crashed headfirst into the wall of the corridor and slumped to the ground. Storm, Bobby and Amara tried to use their own powers, but Magneto put up a force field and deflected the energy blasts, then used his powers to wrap metal beams around them, trapping them.  
  
"Now, Charles, I will take what is mine!" Magneto roared.  
  
"Eric, is there no limit to your madness?" Xavier asked.  
  
"I will pursue her to the ends of the earth if I must!" Magneto said, and clenched his fist. The chamber containing Electra began to shake as Magneto tried to lift it off the ground. It shook itself free of its bearings and rose into the air.  
  
"Farewell, Charles," Magneto said. "I have a world to remake,"  
  
Inside the chamber, Electra was knocked to the ground as it lifted off the ground. Her whole body now glowed with the familiar bright-blue aura. Furiously, she pounded on the glass, trying to get out. The glass held, but she felt solid hands strike the glass. What's happening to me now, she wondered.  
  
As Magneto turned to leave, he heard a loud noise and felt a bolt of energy strike him. A blue energy field sprung up around him, crackling. He suddenly felt very weak and lost his grip on the chamber. The chamber fell to the ground with a crash. On the other side of the room, Storm, Bobby and Amara found themselves freed from Mageneto's grasp.  
  
Magneto looked up to see Wanda standing over him, a look of pure rage on her face.  
  
"You never stop, do you?" she asked vengefully.  
  
"Wanda, don't do this!" Magneto begged.  
  
"I should kill you for everything that you've done to me, and Electra, and Kurt, and all of us!" said Wanda. "But I think I'll let her decide what to do with you instead," she said, pointing to the remains of the chamber. Magneto looked and saw a blue figure emerge and begin to walk towards him.  
  
"Wanda, no!" Magneto shouted, terrified, as Electra walked up to him. "Electra, please, don't do this," he said to her.  
  
"You!" Electra snarled at him. "You stole my life from me! You took everything I had and smashed it to pieces!"  
  
"Please, don't!" cried Magneto, powerless inside the field of Wanda's hexbolt. "I just wanted to help you find your full potential. I gave you a glorious gift!"  
  
"You and your gift can go to hell!" Electra roared, and shot a bolt of energy into Magneto. Magneto screamed as the energy wracked through his body. Electra continued to pour energy into Magneto until she was completely drained. As she tried to summon more energy, she saw her glow fade and her human hands reappear.  
  
Magneto gasped for breath and tried to sit up. Storm walked up to him and lifted him off the ground. "Electra is one of us now. This is our house, and you are NOT welcome here!" she said menacingly to him.  
  
Wanda shut down her hex field. "He's all yours," she said to Xavier. "Come on, Toad, let's get out of here. We got what we came for,"  
  
"Just a sec, sweetums," Toad said as he walked up to the fallen Magneto and looked down at him. "Ah, I never wanted to join you anyway!" he said, and gave Magneto a kick in the ribs for good measure. The two of them walked out of the lab hand in hand, leaving the X-Men alone with the fallen Magneto.  
  
"I'm sorry, Eric," said Xavier as he wheeled up to Magneto. "I cannot let you leave this time. The authorities must be told about what has happened," With that, he pulled out his cell phone and placed a call directly to the FBI. A few minutes later, he hung up, knowing that Agent Simons was on his way and would soon have the mutant he was looking for.  
  
Magneto looked weakly up at Xavier as he realized his failure. Just seconds ago, the world had been in his fingertips, but now everything was ruined. He contemplated his failure for only a second more before he collapsed, unconscious. His Spartan-style helmet fell off of his head and rolled around on the floor, finally coming to rest face-down at Xavier's feet. Xavier leaned forward and picked the helmet up and gazed at it.  
  
"Such a pity," he mused. "If only we could have worked together, perhaps humanity would have seen just how peaceful mutants can really be,"  
  
X  
  
Electra looked at her hands, seeing smoke waft off of her human fingertips. "I don't understand," she said to Xavier. "Did it work? Am I human again?"  
  
"Yes, and no," said Xavier. "Magneto's interference caused an overload before the procedure was complete. Your body has been restored, but as you saw, you still possess your powers. I am at a loss to explain it for now. Until we run further tests,"  
  
"Those can wait, Professor," she said. "I have my body back, and you have Magneto. For now, that's good enough,"  
  
X 


	28. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
Simons shook Xavier's hand as the two men stood on the porch of the Institute. "I can't thank you enough for your help, Professor," he said. "Without you, we never would have caught this man, or solved this case,"  
  
"I'm certainly glad I was able to be of assistance," Xavier said humbly, gratified that his powers of telepathic suggestion were still working despite his recent near-death experience. He had again altered Simons' mind, this time to make the agent believe that he himself had captured Magneto, and also made a few other small changes. As far as the FBI would be concerned, Xavier and the X-Men would be playing a very discreet role in the whole affair.  
  
"If there's anything else we can do for you," said Xavier.  
  
"That won't be necessary, Professor," said Jan. "Thanks to you, we don't have anything to worry about from mutants at all. The dangerous ones are in our custody, and they're going to stay that way for a very long time,"  
  
Xavier repressed a grin and nodded politely as the agents left. Logan walked up behind Xavier as their car drove off and placed a bandaged hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I gotta hand it to you, Chuck," said Logan. "For a guy who can completely alter people's minds, you've sure got a lot of restraint,"  
  
"Indeed," said Xavier. "Although I admit, there have been times when the temptation to abuse my powers has been very strong. But never mind that. How was your surgery?"  
  
Logan raised an eyebrow at Xavier's remark but let it pass. "I'm recoverin'" he said. "Beast was able to get the claws back in where they belong. I should be slicin' and dicin' again in no time,"  
  
"Glad to hear, old friend,"  
  
"How about Electra? How's she managing all of this?"  
  
"Quite well. Her tests came back clean. As far as we can tell, her body is completely intact. The aura that appeared around her in the lab was only a residual effect of her powers. She is now and will always be completely corporeal. And you'll be glad to hear that she's expressed an interest in staying with us. She's been in touch with her parents and they've given us their approval. They were so relieved to hear that their daughter was safe and alive that the fact that she is a mutant didn't seem to faze them a bit,"  
  
"Good," said Logan. "That girl's been through enough the last week, the last thing she needs is for her family to go freaking out,"  
  
"Indeed. If only more families could be as understanding as hers, the world could be a much better place for everyone,"  
  
XXX  
  
Coming soon: I think my "serious" writing makes some people freak out, so now for something completely different! Magneto sends the X-Men to a strange world that bears a strange resemblance to a certain British movie. Their powers are useless, and Scott and Kurt are the only ones that seem to have any idea what's going on! Will they escape, or will they be stuck in "73-squared AD" England forever?! 


End file.
